For the next 10 days, the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings will call Assiniboia 90 minutes west of Weyburn along Highway 13, home as repairs are made to the ice plant at Crescent Point Place and Tom Zandee Sports Arena.
For head coach and general manager Cody Mapes, the work on preparing for this move started shortly after the announcement the arenas would be closed for the rest of the calendar year. A call went out to people in Assiniboia to see what could be done.
“My first call was to Curtis Nelson in Assiniboia,” Mapes said. “His family is involved with Nelson Motors – obviously – and then involved with the Junior B team there as well.” Then, a few more calls went out to line up temporary billets for the players. Within 18 hours, and with a road game in the middle of that, the Red Wings found a temporary home so they could play their remaining four home games on the schedule.
“We’ve had lots of parents reach out, stuff like that, and just kind of thank us to be able to find a way to keep their boys playing hockey,” Mapes continued. “We’re excited that we have the opportunity to keep going. We’re very grateful for that.”
The work those are doing here in Weyburn to get the arenas ready for the return of the Red Wings in the new year isn’t being overlooked either.
“People can criticize however they want, but at the end of the day the people that are here are kind of on the front lines,” Mapes said. “We all know that everybody here, whether it’s the people that are at City Hall or the people that are actually in the building, they’re doing their absolute best to get this facility up and running – they've all got kids that are affected by this as well. It’s not something that anybody wants to see, but we know here that they care about what’s going on and they want to get this thing up and going too.”
The Red Wings will be playing their first game in their temporary home on Friday when they host the Kindersley Klippers at the Southland Co-op Centre in Assiniboia. Fans in Weyburn are invited to make the drive out to Assiniboia for the game. For those who can’t make the drive, it will be broadcast on Great Plains Ford Red Wing Radio Country 106.7. Dylan Fiessel will have the call, starting with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m.