Western Hockey League team abandoning Winnipeg after failing to build new arena

After four years in Winnipeg, the Western Hockey League's Ice franchise is leaving the country.

The team and league announced Friday that the club has been sold and relocated to Wenatchee, Wash. The move received approval of the WHL's board of governors and was effective immediately.

"Unfortunately, multiple attempts by the Ice ownership to construct an arena facility of acceptable WHL standards in Winnipeg, based on the agreed upon timeframes, were unsuccessful, leading to the relocation to Wenatchee," the league said.

"The Western Hockey League would like to thank the Winnipeg Ice fans for their support and the Ice organization for building a highly successful hockey program that we expect will have a great future in Washington State."

The team will operate under the new ownership of David White of the California-based Shoot the Puck Foundation, the WHL said in a release.

The franchise, formerly known as the Kootenay Ice, moved to Winnipeg from Cranbrook, B.C., in 2019. The team played at the Wayne Fleming Arena on the University of Manitoba campus.

The Ice reached the WHL final this past season before falling to the Seattle Thunderbirds. The team will now be known as the Wenatchee Wild.

"Despite our success in building the organization, we were unable to confirm our ability to build a new facility in Winnipeg that met the WHL standards on a timeline that was acceptable to the WHL," team governor Greg Fettes said in a Twitter post.

"Unfortunately we were just never able to get the project on solid footing due to the changing landscape (during and post-pandemic). Simply put, we ran out of time."

Simon Wang, the director of sport and recreation facilities with the Faculty of Kinesiology at the U of M, told CBC he was