The biggest complaints I'm hearing as a professional coach at the grassroots level are what was just stated—ice costs. Go to different areas and ice costs can jump anywhere from $100 an hour to almost $285 an hour. Young families with three or four children get involved in skating or CanSkate programs. They're very excited, they want to move on, but then they start seeing the cost of these sports, and with four children sitting at home, it becomes an expensive decision on the family's part.
I know the problem that exists in my particular area is huge ice costs. We can't have the amount of ice we would like; therefore, we've got an overload on the ice, where kids aren't getting the attention and the quality that they could be getting, and it's all cost efficient. That's, once again, where provincial and funding and everything comes in, where it can help offset some of the costs on these clubs and programs.