A junior hockey team in Olds is hoping that some answers for its financial woes will come out of a town hall meeting scheduled for Wednesday night.
The Olds Grizzlys of the Alberta Junior Hockey League has racked up $300,000 in debt and league officials have said that if it can’t get the books in order, the team will be put on a year’s leave of absence.
The community-owned team has played for 35 years and even won a national championship in 1994.
However, many Olds residents are worried that the debt issues and leave of absence will force the team to close up shop permanently.
The Grizzlys’ head coach and GM Dana Lattery says the best way to solve the issue would be a private owner stepping in to buy up the team, but they need the town’s support too.
“I think the biggest thing is the town’s got to show itself. We gotta show each other that we want this hockey team here, that we as a town of 8,000 people want to keep a junior hockey team in town. That’s money and more importantly, that’s energy.”
Lattery expects that a number of investors groups will be at the meeting, but says that a big crowd will go a long way to getting the message across.
The meeting was held at the Olds Arena at 7:00 p.m.
For more information about the team, you can visit the official website.
