Pistons show off $1 million locker room to community

Steinbach Pistons players have a new place to call home, and not just on the benches or on the ice.

The club invested nearly $1 million dollars of their own money to build a state of the art dressing room for their players inside the newly opened Southeast Event Centre.

The room rivals some National Hockey League set-ups, and couldn’t come at a better time, with rule changes across junior hockey fuelling massive roster turnover throughout North America.

The space has drawn rave reviews from nearly everyone who has gotten a look inside, including former NHL coach and Steinbach resident Ralph Krueger. He coached both the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres, making the rare move to switch sports to join the Premier League’s with Southampton FC as their director. He also had a long career coaching in Europe and internationally.

Kruger was in attendance for the grand opening of the SEC.

“I love it, it’s NHL level,” Kruger said of the dressing room, noting it should be an easy tiebreaker for any player deciding between playing for the Pistons or another team.

“It’s 25 world class spots, nicely spaced, coaches strongly positioned to communicate with the team. I have to say that’s as good a dressing room as anyone in a junior club is going to experience in Canada.”

Money for the new room came from playoff game day revenue and other specific fundraising saved up over the last decade. The room comes with all the features a hockey player or coach could want — a large space, physiotherapy room, a player’s lounge, audio and visual equipment for video work and even a sauna/cold tub area.

“It doesn’t hurt, I’ll put it that way,” Pistons head coach and general manager Paul Dyck said on what impact the room could have on recruitment.

“At the end of the day, players still want to play at the highest level possible… It’s a great home for players, but if they have an opportunity to play in the Western (Hockey) League, they’re still going to look at that option, especially now in the new landscape.”

Pistons director of business operations Kevin Geisheimer told tour attendees during the SEC’s grand opening ceremony the club expects to have the space completely paid off by the middle of this season.

Dyck said the player’s lounge in particular was a busy space, even as the team only played five games in the SEC this spring.

“We’re really pleased with the way it turned out,” Dyck said.

“We spent a fair amount of time making preparations and being in communications with all of our tradespeople… There were a lot of things we had to look at before we literally started building. Thankfully we had some time to do that, make sure at the end of the day, we were going to pleased with the end result.”

The show stopper may be something not apparent if you take a tour of the room, as many did during the SEC’s grand opening Aug. 21. It features an advanced ventilation and climate control system, meant to keep players from overheating and more importantly, keep the awful “hockey” smell out of the space.

“Anyone that has had a child play hockey, the gloves especially, they’re stinky — there’s no way around it,” Dyck said, laughing.

“That’s a bit of a luxury we invested in and certainly well worth it.”

For a hockey team, especially one that had to play nearly two full seasons as visitors in the La Broquerie Arena, there’s no place like a permanent home.

“We were very grateful to have a home in La Broquerie with the absence of our own home, but once we got here we realized how we had been operating,” Dyck said, noting the additional office space has made everything Pistons run smoother.

“The one thing we really notice is the communication between the staff. We feel connected again, and on the same page on a daily basis. It’s been a lot of fun.”

The team only barely got a chance to play in the SEC last season, with construction workers putting the finishing touches in the stands just minutes before the team’s penultimate regular season game.

“Entering into the building, as exciting as it was and we were obviously thrilled to finally get in, but it was a lot to take in,” Dyck said.

“Just to get into that routine early on, it’ll become normal. Not that we’ll take it for granted, but it will become a normal facility for us. Being here from the beginning will hopefully establish that routine.”

Most of the work done in the locker room was completed by local contractors, with Geisheimer listing Sign Ex, Steinbach Flooring, UDT Interiors, PennLite, Vantage WoodWork, Keh Fab, AH Glass, Penner Doors and Just Dueck Painting as helping to finish the space.

Another benefit the new building will have for the Pistons is the chance to share a space with the U18 AAA team, as the Eastman Selects made the move from Beausejour to the SEC.

“I’m really excited about that,” Dyck said.

“There’s time’s you’d love to go to a game, but for us, it was either Beausejour or Winnipeg… To be able to just drive down after dinner and catch a period or two is going to be that much more convenient… I think there’s going to be some good synergies.”

The Pistons will play a pair of regular season match-ups inside the new building before the start of the regular season, hosting Winkler Sept. 7 and Niverville Sept. 13. The Selects open their tryouts Sept. 1.