‘Something doesn’t add up’: Ste Anne residents, officials upset over hockey team dismissal

Celeste Plouffe couldn’t believe the Ste Anne Aces weren’t playing hockey this season.

“I just thought somebody was playing a joke on me. I thought it was ridiculous, and couldn’t understand why that would happen,” the owner of Ste Anne’s Old No. 12 Cafe & Lounge said.

Following the South East Manitoba Hockey League’s (SEMHL) decision on May 4 to remove the Aces, Plouffe said the team’s loss will have a “devastating” effect on local fans and businesses.

The 60-year-old grew up watching the team every season and never imagined a world where senior hockey existed and the Aces didn’t play. The 2025-2026 SEMHL season starts Oct. 24.

Lining the walls of her restaurant are old team photos she salvaged from the Maurice Chaput Arena to create her own hockey “wall of fame.” Many children idolize the team because, for some, playing for the Aces is the highest level of hockey they can reach, Plouffe said.

“It’s our own personal little NHL team,” she said.

With each home game, business at the restaurant swells as people come from out of town and stay to get a meal, Plouffe said. The team usually ordered more than eight pizzas and hosted a Christmas banquet at her cafe. But now that’s a “couple grand” she won’t get any more.

“It’s nice for people from outside your community to come and spend money here so you’re not always expecting stuff from your local patrons that come here and support you all the time,” she said, adding people often would visit the gas station, grocery store or other restaurants during games.

The Aces have played senior hockey since 1965. After joining the league in 2022, following the dissolution of the Carillon Senior League in the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve won the league championship for the last three seasons. The Aces appealed the league’s decision to Hockey Canada. Despite the provincial governing body initially siding with the team, it reversed its decision on Sept. 2 and the Aces remained ejected from the league.

The RM of Ste Anne passed a resolution Oct. 8 to formally ask the league to bring the Aces back, following Ste Anne Mayor Yvan St. Vincent penning a letter that detailed how the team’s loss would hurt the community.

“Typically when senior teams go away, it’s due to lack of interest or lack of people who are willing to spend all that time organizing these teams,” he said. “But all those things are in place, so something doesn’t add up.”

St. Vincent said the team rented $20,000 of ice time at the arena last year and attracted crowds of more than 600 people. Now that revenue is “instantly gone,” he said.

He said many people are frustrated because there isn’t a clear reason why the Aces were removed. The team had a strong connection with the community and minor hockey in the area, St. Vincent said. One year, the Aces created hockey cards, which were prized among the kids who faithfully watched them play, he added.

He sent the letter to 10 municipalities because the economic impacts with the Aces gone could spill over into other communities, St. Vincent said.

“Our fans aren’t going out and eating in their restaurants and not visiting their establishments too,” he said.

RM of Ste Anne Coun. Robert Sarrasin said the team is a sense of pride for locals. If ice remains unused at the arena, keeping operating costs low would be difficult, he said.

Ice rental rates could go up for other users if the slots don’t get filled, Sarrasin said.

“We’re really hoping that some political pressure might help them reconsider,” he said.

League commissioner Tom Vatrt didn’t answer questions on why the Aces were removed from the league.

In a statement previously sent to The Carillon, the SEMHL said the decision “remains a private league matter.”

He refused to comment on the rural municipality’s request to reinstate the team.

An appeal to Hockey Canada is ongoing and no decision has been made yet, a spokesperson for the national body said.