Ice time crunch in Montreal could spell end of inclusive hockey program for kids

When six-year-old Samuel hits the ice, his eyes light up with unrestrained enthusiasm as he skates as hard as he can, doing his best to replicate the moves of his heroes that play for the Montreal Canadiens. 

"I love it! It's like a 10 out of 10 for me. I really like it," Samuel said in between breaths after giving it his all on the ice for 50 minutes with Avalanche Kidz Hockey. 

Avalanche Kidz Hockey caters to children on the autism spectrum or kids who have additional needs that can't quite be met in more traditional hockey programs.

Samuel's father, Charlie Flicker, said that without it, his son wouldn't be playing the game he loves. 

"He didn't feel comfortable joining a mainstream program and this was the perfect entry point for him," Flicker said. "He's got incredible attention from the coaches on the ice who cater their instruction to him and his needs." 

But even though interest in the program is growing, it may have to shut down completely. That's because finding space for kids to play hockey in Montreal can be extremely difficult.

"I don't want to think about it. I don't want to even mention it to any of the families," said Linda Matteo, the program's co-founder, when asked about the prospect of the Avalanche Kidz Hockey program coming to an end.

"If this program folds, unfortunately, all of these families will be devastated. And I can't let the children down."

For most publicly owned rinks, municipal or borough managers are in charge of allocating the ice time.

Typically, they will give a certain number of weekly hours to local hockey associations. It's then up to those associations to decide how the ice time is shared among its teams. The rest of the available hours are then given to other groups at the city