By TERRY PUGH
Warman City Council voted at its May 26 meeting to allocate $300,000 from the city’s recreation reserve to upgrade the score clock and other electronic audio-visual display boards in the Warman Home Centre Communiplex (WHCC) arena.
The upgrades were requested by the ownership group of the Warman Wolverines, a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) team formerly known as the Notre Dame Hounds, which is relocating from Wilcox to Warman beginning in the 2025-26 season.
Jonathon Abrametz and Cole Kachur purchased the SJHL’s Notre Dame Hounds earlier this year on the condition that both Warman City Council and the SJHL Board of Governors would approve the relocation.
Kachur said one of the conditions of the league is for the franchise to have a structure in place to transfer the team back to a non-profit, community ownership group after five years.
The SJHL Board provided initial approval for the sale and relocation back in March, and the league is slated to vote on final approval at its annual general meeting June 7.
Also back in March, Warman City Council gave the ownership group permission to proceed with its relocation proposal, but reserved making a final decision until a comprehensive agreement regarding the use of the WHCC was hammered out.
During the intervening months, the Wolverines ownership group began enlisting the support of corporate sponsors and embarked on a marketing campaign with the aim of selling 1,000 season tickets for the upcoming season. As of May 7, the franchise has “secured commitments for approximately 400 season tickets” for the 2025-26 season, according to a letter from the ownership group to the May 26 Warman City Council meeting.
In an interview May 20, Kachur said while they haven’t sold as many season tickets as they had hoped, they were still well within the range that the SJHL considers viable for a franchise. He added that they expect to see the number of season ticket purchasers increase once the team begins operation in the fall.
At the May 26 meeting, Warman city councillors voted to accept a proposed operating agreement between the team and the city regarding the WHCC. The agreement commits the city to supporting the cost of audio-visual upgrades to the arena to a maximum of $300,000.
The price tag for the electronic display upgrades is based on a quote obtained by the team’s ownership group from IKS Media and Technology, a Regina-based company.
In his report to the May 26 council meeting, Warman Recreation and Community Services Manager Paul McGonigal said the arena upgrades will benefit all user groups, not just the SJHL team.
“City staff will be able to run the new equipment,” said McGonigal.
Warman Councillor Marshall Seed said he favoured the investment because it will improve the overall game-day experience for all user groups and raise the profile of the city among visitors.
“If this was only for the team, then it would be a solid ‘no’,” said Seed. “But it will be used by multiple user groups, and we have ample room in the city’s recreation reserve to pay for this upgrade.”
Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk called it “a fair request “and an “investment in the community” that will build capacity for the future.
The agreement specifies that the city will provide the team with complementary daytime practice time, but the team will pay an ice rental rate for games and camps. There has not been a revenue amount attached to this agreement. Currently daytime ice is not utilized and generally sits empty or unused.
In addition, the city will provide dressing rooms free of charge for the team. However, the agreement states the team will cover the cost of any renovations to existing dressing rooms that the players, coaches and visiting teams require.
The Wolverines have been granted the rights to all in-ice advertising, arena board advertising and Zamboni advertising, as well as the advertising on the proposed electronic screens and scoreboard. The Wolverines will respect the current agreements that the city had in place until that agreement expires.
While there will not be any additional seating installed, the Wolverines have been approved to construct a corporate box that reflects the existing Announcers Booth and then the Wolverines and the city will work together to locate other loge boxes either on the west spectator side or the south spectator end.
The Warman Wolverines have the first overall pick in the SJHL draft on June 10 for 2009 and 2010-born players, and Abrametz said the ownership group is looking to capitalize on local talent.
Kachur said the team is budgeting for about $850,000 for the 2025-26 season, and has received commitments from several corporate sponsors in the area. The team has hired an operations manager from Thunder Bay and is “moving ahead” with its program of enlisting community support.
Abremetz said the team is collaborating with Warman High School (WHS) to offer tickets to special needs students, and has invited the school band to perform the anthem at some games.
Kachur said the ownership group strongly believes the region will wholeheartedly support a team that will deliver high-calibre Junior A hockey entertainment.