CBR Brave decision brings rewards as well as risks -- ACTISF media release

5 April 2025

CANBERRA.-- National ice hockey champions Canberra Brave's decision to relocate to the AIS Arena into a temporary ice rink facility for the 2025 Australian Ice Hockey League season brings with it both the potential for rewards, as well as risks, the ACT Ice Sports Association warned today.

ACT Ice Sports has worked with the ACT Government and interested proponents supporting the construction of a new twin-sheet ice sports facility in Canberra for almost a decade now, representing the interests of ice (figure) skating, ice hockey and broomball, as well as planned new sports including curling, ice racing and para (sled) hockey.

"The Canberra Brave announcement it is abandoning Phillip Ice Rink to move to a temporary facility is both exciting as well as a concern for a number of reasons," said spokesman Sandi Logan. "The opportunity to fill almost 3000 seats/standing room at the AIS Arena is an attractive one, and we hope Cruachan Investments/Stephen Campbell is successful with its marketing plan.

"The Canberra Brave -- whose genesis was the Canberra Knights in the early 1980s -- has a strong and passionate following. The Brave decision to move from Phillip out to the AIS Arena is a strong confirmation of what everyone in the ACT ice sports community has known for a decade: a single sheet of ice in a facility 45-years-old is not enough to cater for existing demands, let alone what's needed to grow the existing ice sports and new ones.

"But the risk we see is that same investor who owns the Canberra Brave, who is also associated with the new twin-sheet ice sports facility in Tuggeranong -- a first-time ACT Government partnership announced almost five years ago with Pelligra and Cruachan -- may be distracted by this exciting new single-team promotion at the expense of progressing the design, planning and development application work required of a $50M sports infrastructure project that is the new Canberra Ice Arena," the spokesman said.

At a recent Cruachan Investments/Stephen Campbell briefing, the ice sports were told a development application with architect's drawings and plans was expected no later than the third/fourth quarter of 2025.

"We're anxious to see progress on the new facility, frankly," the spokesman said "and we know Canberra's and the surrounding region's ice sports supporters, fans and participants are equally concerned.

"We understand major infrastructure projects -- especially those involving public/private funding and approvals -- take time and encounter unexpected hurdles along the way. But we're also mindful the ACT Government announced its funding of a detailed options paper in 2016; released its facility options report in 2018; called for expressions of interest from developers and investors in 2019; announced Cruachan Investments as the facility's proponent and Tuggeranong as the site in 2020; and signed a heads of agreement with Cruachan Investments and Pelligra Holdings in 2022 ... and since then, it's all been consumed by process with nothing to show for it.

"We're keen to see real progress; to see real plans; to see a shovel digging up some sod from the site to signal the new twin-sheet ice sports facility is actually on its way. What happens if the temporary facility at the AIS Arena doesn't just become home for the Canberra Brave, but starts luring local recreational ice hockey teams to play there ... attracts figure skating shows there ... it might demonstrate we seriously need two sheets of ice in Canberra, but it will do little to progress the construction of the new facility let alone ensure the one long-standing ice rink at Phillip which Geocon has kept operational continues to be fully utilised," Logan added.