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Vancouver minor hockey releases statement regarding the Canucks MOU with City for practice facility at Britannia

Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy

By Jacob Fraser

Aug 1, 2026, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 1, 2026, 15:37 EDT

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On Thursday, July 30th, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the city of Vancouver to explore the development of a new hockey development facility with the Britannia Community Services Centre. In their announcement, the team shared that the new site would be adjacent to the existing Britannia Ice Rink.

Following the Canucks announcement, the Vancouver Minor Hockey Association released a joint statement with Vancouver Thunderbirds Hockey and Vancouver Angels Hockey. In their statement, the organizations voiced their support for the opportunity:

“Representing more than 2,000 minor hockey players and families across Vancouver, the Vancouver Angels, Vancouver Thunderbirds, and Vancouver Minor Hockey Association support opportunities to renew and expand community recreation infrastructure throughout the city.

“However, we are disappointed by the report that the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Canucks are exploring building a practice facility that could leverage an existing community rink at Britannia without creating desperately needed new ice capacity.”

Currently, the City of Vancouver operates eight rinks, including Britannia Rink. According to the Vancouver Minor Hockey Association, they are currently operating at capacity due to the ice time currently available to them. They also say that, in some cases, they have to turn down prospective players because there is insufficient ice time available.

With hockey continuing to grow throughout the Lower Mainland and a need for more ice year-round due to academies and spring hockey teams now playing year-round, it is becoming difficult for many Minor Hockey Associations to secure ice time.

Cities such as Surrey and Langley have recently developed new projects to build ice rinks, including the newly opened Cloverdale Sport and Ice Complex, which features two new NHL-sized ice rinks. In addition, a third rink is being added and is set to be completed in 2027.

In Langley, there is the expansion of the Langley Events Centre (LEC), which will feature one main ice rink along two more dry floors/ice capabilities directly within the existing LEC property.

The statement from the Vancouver Minor Hockey Association goes on to say:

“What Vancouver truly needs is a modern, multi-sheet ice complex similar to Seattle’s Kraken Community Iceplex: a facility that provides three ice sheets and enables the city to host tournaments and other large-scale sporting events.

“We recognize that this is an ambitious vision. However, given the on-going shortage of ice facilities in Vancouver and the growing demand from community users, we believe it is a conversation worth having before decisions are made that fail to address the broader needs of the city’s minor hockey and other recreational groups.”

While nothing has been finalized between the Canucks and the City of Vancouver, it seems there is community desire to build something that can be shared by the team and local organizations to create more growth opportunities for the game of hockey in the City of Vancouver. This could also be an avenue to bring the team and fans closer together.