Girls minor hockey rep talks Belleville sports and other issues

By Bevan Hamilton

BELLEVILLE – Lisa Neill spoke to QNetNews about sports in Belleville and what she’d like to see from future council.

Neill is the vice-president of girl’s minor hockey for the rep teams in Belleville. She spoke with QNetNews as part of our Municipal Election Project. 

Neill said Belleville’s sports community is healthy, but wishes girls hockey got more attention than it does.

“I know a lot of people don’t know a lot about girls hockey. We have a lot of girls that go on from midget hockey and they get spots in university and college.”

Neill said she is happy with council’s support, but there are improvements that could be made.

Neill said renting ice in Belleville is cheaper than Kingston, but more expensive than Frankford or Trenton.

Neill wants to see more consistent blocks of ice time instead of sporadic times to make it easier on families.

While she’s not sure what the city can do now, she said it would have been nice if the city had kept the Dick Ellis or Memorial arenas because it would have solved a lot of problems with ice availability.

We asked Neill what the city should do about the Yardmen Arena. She said whatever they do, they shouldn’t jeopardize losing the Belleville Bulls because of what they bring to the city. Neill said the Bulls are important to Belleville.

Neill also commented on the women’s floorball championship coming to Belleville next year. She said she hopes it gets the attention it deserves.

“I think once people see what it’s like, it’s going to explode.”

Neill is also in favour of a casino coming to Belleville.

Neill said she knows the downsides are people gambling too much, but says she thinks education on the issue will help people better know their limits.