Ball hockey enthusiasts in Saint John will have a new place to play next spring.

A new facility is currently under construction in the McAllister Industrial Park in east Saint John.

The Knapper Center will feature a pair of state-of-the-art playing surfaces for four-on-four ball hockey, one indoor and one outdoor.

The facility will also feature a small pub and spaces built to host leagues, tournaments, youth programs and community events.

Between 30 and 40 jobs are anticipated to be created to staff the facility.

Gary Crossman, a longtime part of Saint John’s ball hockey community, said it’s something special to seeing such an investment in the city.

“As someone who has dedicated years to hockey at the local, provincial, national, international level, today’s announcement has been something I’ve dreamt about for years,” Crossman said.

“This centre will become a place where kids discover the love of the game, where teams grow stronger and where players push themselves to next levels, performance and confidence.”

Crossman said the facility will enable Saint John to host high-level competition and strengthen the city’s reputation as a destination for the sport.

“This sends a clear message to the national and international ball hockey community,” he said. “Saint John is stepping forward, embracing the future and positioning itself as a leader in the sport.”

Mayor Donna Noade Reardon said the facility puts Saint John on the map for recreation and sports.

“It puts us on the map for tournaments,” she said. “It puts on the map for being a city that’s growing and that’s really changing.”

The mayor said in a time when people can work from home more than ever, it’s facilities like the Knapper Center that can entice people to move to a new community.

“It’s not just about the paycheque anymore,” she said. “This helps us to build that critical mass that will attract and keep our population here in Saint John.”

An artist’s rendering of the new Knapper Center in east Saint John. Image: Courtesy of Knapper

The project is coming together thanks to Knapper, a Canadian company that specializes in high-performance ball hockey equipment, sport innovation and facility management.

“Today is a big day for Knapper and a big day for the sport of ball hockey,” said Patrick Bazinet, president of Knapper Partners Investment Fund.

Bazinet said the company is fully dedicated to ball hockey and achieves that through two divisions.

The first is the design and manufacture of high-end ball hockey equipment.

“The second division is the Knapper Partners Investment Fund which builds and invests in sports facilities across Canada,” he said.

The Knapper Center will be the company’s first venture into Atlantic Canada.

“And it’s the first one that Knapper is building from the ground up,” Bazinet said.

A release from Knapper said the Saint John facility is the company’s most significant infrastructure investment to date.

They’re collaborating with local schools, community partners and tournament organizers to create long-term programming and new opportunities for youth, adults and high-performance players.