News: 2010 ON THE DRIVE? Britannia ice rink a possibility

Olympic hockey may be coming to The Drive.

VANOC wants to use Britannia Ice Rink, near Commercial Drive, as a practice venue during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Olympic-approved, NHL-size ice surface is closer to the False Creek athletes' village than the University of B.C. Winter Sports Centre. The proposal needs approval from Britannia's board of directors and city council.

"We see this as a potential opportunity to have some investment in the facility by VANOC," said city hall's Olympic operations manager Dave Rudberg. "From our perspective we don't see any cost."

Tammie Tupechka, co-publisher of the Torch anti-Olympics 'zine, fears heavy security will disrupt community centre regulars and the neighbourhood.

"This development makes a lot of us in the community fundamentally upset that there would even be a consideration that apparatus would be attached to what is an interesting community centre," said Tupechka, co-ordinator of a 7 p.m. Sunday public meeting at Britannia Centre's learning resources centre.

"There is no indication that the centre will be closed," said Britannia executive director Enzo Guerriro. "The ice rink is a stand-alone building on site and it can be secured because of that."

Earlier this year, VANOC scrapped plans to use the Agrodome and will instead hold figure skating practices at Killarney. Trout Lake will host short-track speedskating workouts. Both rinks are costing a combined $32.4 million, which is almost $8 million over budget.