THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: A home for hockey, now and down the road?

The puck starts here next week.

For a few nights anyway.

The Spokane Braves, a Junior ‘B’ hockey team, will play for the first time in three years due to COVID restrictions, starting next weekend at Frontier Ice Arena on Seltice Way.

THE BRAVES play their home games at Eagles Ice-A-Rena in Spokane, but in an effort to grow the game, will make Coeur d’Alene home next Saturday, when the Braves face Nelson, British Columbia, in an exhibition starting at 6 p.m.

“They’ve been holding some recruitment camps here in recent years,” Frontier Ice Arena general manager Dan Eloe said. “Because of availability, we’ve been holding them here. Sometimes, getting ice time is a big factor and we’ve got that for them. Sometimes, when it comes to preseason games, teams will use different rinks as well.”

At Frontier, which also offers classes in figure skating, curling and hockey, ice time is usually workable.

“We’ve got all the different venues that you could think of on an ice surface,” Eloe said. “We’ve got the Cristeros Hockey Club, the Coeur d’Alene Hockey Club and the Coeur d’Alene Hockey Academy, which has four different teams.”

Players on the Braves — who compete in the Kootenai International League — range from age 16-20. Junior 'B' players are those that are still eligible to play college hockey. Junior 'B' is two levels below that of the Spokane Chiefs, who are a major junior team.

“You’ve got to be a minimum of 16, but it just depends on the age range,” Eloe said. “Spokane is the only American team in that (five-team Neil Murdoch) division. There’s 20 teams that are part of the league.”

Due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19 (some of the Braves players couldn't enter Canada because they were not vaccinated), Spokane has not participated in the league since the 2019-20 season.

“It’s really great to be back this year,” Spokane Braves coach Darin Schumacher said. “We’ve been out three years, and we’re excited to be back. The regulations in Canada were tough, so we just waited for them to be lifted. Now that they have, we’re back.”

ELOE ADDED that the idea has been suggested of another Junior 'B' team being developed in the Coeur d’Alene area.

“There’s definitely a big interest in this area,” Eloe said. “Within this area, there used to be three different ice rinks within a 10-mile radius. Planet Ice, which was in Liberty Lake and Ice World, which was right next to them, as well as Frontier. Those two places closed down and in downtown where the carousel in Spokane is in Riverfront Park, where there was an outdoor rink, and that one shut down as well. So we’ve only got two ice rinks now that are in the area.”

Another idea being considered is adding onto Frontier Ice Arena, including an additional sheet of ice and seating for a hockey program.

“There’s definitely a growing need and an influx of population coming into the area, and one of the things is having two sheets of ice,” Eloe said. “They collapse and rebuild, the build we’ve had for this facility has always been for a two-sheet facility. The way this is built, is we’ve got the center and the next will be attached to the main building. With how busy we are, it definitely justifies having that other sheet of ice.”

“The Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area is building a very strong hockey community,” Schumacher said. “Everyone is aware of the opportunity that’s here, and it’s important to us to give that chance for folks to come and watch us play in different rinks. 17 of our (Braves) players are from either Spokane or Coeur d’Alene, so it’s really a local group.”

Dante Hughes, the younger brother of former Spokane Chief Bear Hughes, is on the Braves’ roster.

As for that Coeur d’Alene team …

“It would be amazing to have another team in our league from the U.S.,” Schumacher said. “We need to keep growing the game and our hockey community.”

NEXT SATURDAY, Frontier will host a 3-on-3 hockey tournament that will precede the Spokane-Nelson game.

The Braves will also host Beaver Valley of Fruitvale, British Columbia, on Sept. 16 at Frontier Ice Arena.

Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m.

Tickets are available at www.frontiericearena.org, spokanebraves.com or at the door.

“Currently, seating is limited in the area right now,” Eloe said. “We’ve got 110 seats that are in the arena now facing the rink, and some that we’re bringing in that are inside. We’ll have some standing-room area and general admission. We’re hoping to do 300 to 350 tickets, with all the money going right back to the Braves program."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @JECdAPress.