You know what, this community deserves a new Communiplex, so for us going into the new building it helps for me personally for recruiting for our hockey club. Obviously, playing in a top notch facility is going to attract some fans to the building. That's going to help our hockey club. The Communiplex is more than that. It's for the whole community. It's going to be able to house events, such as probably curling events or concerts. It's going to be able to host bigger events in hockey, such as a World Junior "A" Challenge and hopefully one day a Royal Bank Cup for us. It's something for the whole community, but definitely for our hockey club it's going to be a big advantage and we're looking forward to it."
Jamie Fiesel
Coach, Melville Millionaires
Competitive hockey has always had a home in Melville, and with the Communiplex hockey will move into a state of the art facility. The 1,500-seat arena will be fully licensed and feature a full concession, a lounge and private viewing boxes.
The Melville Millionaires played their first season in 1908, and six years later they were world champions. In the 1914-15 season, "Goldie" Smith led the team to the Saskatchewan Senior title, the national Allan Cup and the World Championship. This exceptional team set the stage for a century of exceptional hockey to follow, and follow it did.
Hockey legend, Sid Abel, was born in Melville and played with the Millionaires. He is best known as one-third of the Detroit Red Wings' celebrated Production Line, where he played alongside fellow hall-of-famers Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay. Other notable players to count themselves as former Millionaires include Eddie Shore, John Ferguson, Brian Propp, Ron Hextall, Brett Clark, Chris Kunitz and hometown hero Tim Cheveldae.
The arena will be home to the Millionaires as well as a long list of minor league hockey teams. Of course, hockey is not the only sport on ice and Melville's figure skating and speed skating communities will also call the arena home. Melville has produced notable athletes in these sports as well. Olympic speed skating silver medalist Jason Parker trained in Melville with the Melville Speed Skating Club, and he competed in 75 World Cups and World Championships throughout his 20 year career. In 2006, hometown speed skater Kerry Simpson travelled to Torino, Italy with Team Canada for the Olympics.
