Sign showing the proposed location for the multiplex arena in Dufferin (photo via Victor Kaisar)

The Kamloops Minor Hockey Association is fully behind the Build Kamloops initiative, which includes a new four-sheet ice rink facility in Dufferin.

“It’s very exciting, not just for us but for all the user groups,” KMHA Executive Director Zac Carnelly told NL Sports. “We’ve been working behind the scenes with everybody.  This is massive for the City and for the kids.”

At present, the Sandman Centre, Memorial Arena, Valleyview Arena, McArthur Island, and the Brock Arena are the only facilities with ice rinks.

A lack of available ice in Kamloops has meant some teams within KMHA have had to go out of town so they could practice. It also affects other groups like the Kamloops Long Blades.

“We haven’t had a new arena in Kamloops since Olympic was added to McArthur Island in 2007,” Carnelly told Radio NL in February. “Before that you’re looking at at the time it was Riverside Coliseum, so we’re looking at we’ve added one arena since 1992.”

Carnelly says the entire Build Kamloops initiative – which includes a Performing Arts Centre, a new leisure pool on the North Shore, a large curling club facility to accommodate the consolidation of the two curling clubs, new indoor field space, and a new all-ages community centre – will move the community forward.

“We support what’s going on with the whole Build Kamloops and not just the ice sheets,” Carnelly said. “We support the community growing and the Performing Arts Centre and the pools and whatever else comes with it.”

As present, the City is focused on the Performing Arts Centre – which is slated to rise at 4th Avenue and St. Paul Street downtown – and the new four-plex at 2070 Hillside Road, near the entrance to Kenna Cartwright Park.

It says both those facilities could be open by the end of this decade, if a proposal to borrow up to $275 million is approved by local taxpayers.