MTS Iceplex and Girls Hockey

I covered the 2013 Female World Sport School Challenge this past weekend.  It was the first of its kind - featuring some of the top female high schools in the country.  In the end, the Edge School for Athletes from Calgary, Alberta won Gold.  Coming in second place was the Okanagan Hockey Academy out of Penticton, B.C.  Two Winnipeg teams were also in the tournament: St. Mary's Hockey Academy and the Shaftesbury Titans Hockey Academy.  Shaftesbury lost in the Bronze game while St. Mary's placed 5th. 

It was showcase of all the young talent that exists across our great nation.  I was surprised at the high-level of play.  It was really exciting hockey!  Some of these girls will grow up to challenge for places on the National and Olympic teams,  I'm sure of it.

In all, I covered four games, including the Gold Medal game.  You can check out my write-ups at hockeycanada.ca 

All games were held at the MTS Iceplex, just on the outskirts of Winnipeg, beside Asinaboia Downs.  Great venue but I did have one issue with the whole thing... Getting there!  It's not that I didn't like the long ride from St. Boniface to the Iceplex, that's to be expected.  But what I didn't like is that Winnipeg Transit does not offer any routes directly to the Iceplex.  That means I twice (I found a ride once) had to bus to the end of Portage Ave. and then walk the remainder of the way.  No problem, right?  Well normally, a 20-minute walk to get somewhere after a long bus ride is not worrisome at all, in fact, it's also to be expected in Winnipeg.  The problem is that, as I mentioned, the Iceplex sits outside the perimeter and there are no designated walkways or paths.  I had to walk underneath the overpass, with traffic whizzing by at 90 km/h.  And judging by the footprints I saw, I'm not the only one who has to make that extremely dangerous trip. 

My other option would have been to call a cab or hitchhike.  I didn't like either of those options because 1) I'm broke and 2) who hitchhikes these days?  I found it very weird that not one bus makes its way to the Iceplex.  I mean, it's such a busy place and it's literally two minutes outside the perimeter.  St. Norbert, which is technically outside the perimeter, but apart of Winnipeg, get bus service so why not the Iceplex?  What if little Billy wants to go watch his friends play their playoff game on the weekend, only to find out he can only get within a 20 minute walk (and a treacherous one to boot!).

I think it's vital that the City, or the Iceplex deal with this issue.  Either a shuttle service of some kind, or at least one designated route that goes to the Iceplex.  It would bring more traffic to the venue, and it eliminates the risk of people walking across a busy highway in order to get there (or to other businesses in the area).