As the construction of Victoria Road Arena continues to take place, the Guelph Jr B Regals found themselves looking for a home for the second consecutive summer.
After playing in Cambridge at Galt Arena Gardens for the 2016 season with the mindset that Victoria Road Arena would be open for the 2017 lacrosse season, the Regals are glad to be back in their hometown.
“We are ecstatic to be back playing in Guelph,” said Regals General Manager Matt Pelkey.
“Our experience in Cambridge was great last year and they treated us very well, but it was tough to be outside of Guelph. Our Board worked extremely hard to get this team back in town after we found out that the renovations at Victoria Road were going to take longer than initially expected,” Pelkey said.
Renovations to the Regals’ home arena at Victoria Road were originally planned to be complete in May of this year. However, changes happened over the winter and the first floor booking at the arena was pushed back to July 2, well after the Junior B lacrosse regular season will have concluded.
That left the Jr B Regals once again searching for a place to play.
“There were times we thought we may have to leave Guelph again for the summer, but our Board was awesome and the City of Guelph helped us out a lot with finding floor time here. We’re absolutely thrilled to be back home.”
With floor hockey, roller derby and minor lacrosse all competing for floor time, it was tough to find needed floor time for the Jr B Regals. Then, the team finally reached a deal with the Sleeman Centre that will allow for the team to play its regular season and playoff home games at in addition to practices.
Due to previously-scheduled events, the Jr B Regals will not play their first game at the Sleeman Centre until May 12, their third home contest of the season, when they host the Elora Mohawks. The first two regular season games – against Owen Sound on April 30 and Orangeville on May 7 – will be played at West End Recreation Centre.
Below is the 2017 Regular Season Home Schedule:
Sun. April 30 – vs Owen Sound – 3:00 PM – West End
Sun. May 7 – vs Orangeville – 7:00 PM – West End
Fri. May 12 – vs Elora – 8:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Fri. May 19 – vs Orangeville – 8:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Fri. May 26 – vs St. Catharines – 8:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Sun. May 28 – vs Welland – 7:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Wed. June 7 – vs Pt. Edward – 8:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Sun. June 11 – vs Six Nations – 7:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Fri. June 16 – vs Elora – 8:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
Sun. June 18 – vs Wallaceburg – 4:00 PM – Sleeman Centre
The Jr B Regals kick off the 2017 season on Saturday, April 15 when they visit the Elora Mohawks. Game time is slated for 7:00 PM.