Figure skaters v hockey at Braemar

7/22/2013
Barbara Garn Administrator
From the July 22 Strib: For almost 50 years, the Braemar City of Lakes Figure Skating Club has made Edina’s Braemar Arena its home. The club has produced 60 national champions, and one of its synchronized skating teams has taken the junior national crown in four of the last five years. Now the club is in a faceoff with Edina’s other ice-hungry group, the Edina Hockey Association, over ice time at Braemar. City staff wants the figure skaters to give up some of their prime ice time to hockey, where players are more likely to be Edina residents than are Skating Club members. The City Council wants to settle the issue by early August. Last week, the council asked representatives of the two skating groups to meet with city staff to try to resolve the issue, something they have been unable to do in previous talks. Rosalind Wright, co-vice president of the Figure Skating Club, said the club’s future is at stake. She said the city wants to break an agreement about ice time made just last year. “I feel like we’ve been blindsided,” she said. “I really feel like we’re being bullied here. We have no voice, and it’s all about hockey.” Ron Green, president of the Edina Hockey Association, said hockey needs more ice time at Braemar, which has three rinks. Parents drive all over the metro for hockey, he said, with skilled players sometimes practicing on small rinks where it’s hard to run good practices. Demand is increasing as more kids, both boys and girls, play hockey. “We’re 99 percent Edina residents,” he said. “We want [Braemar] to be our home rink. If you look at [figure skating] hours, it’s all prime time stuff. … This has sparked a conversation that’s probably long overdue.” Full story here: http://www.startribune.com/local/west/216377911.html