Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley Regional District wants to know who is willing to take a shot at owning the world’s largest hockey stick.
It says the more than 62-metre wooden stick and puck that has been attached to the east side of the Cowichan Community Centre in Duncan — about a 60-kilometre drive northwest of Victoria — for the past 35 years needs more than a new tape job.
The regional district says the glue structure holding the giant Douglas fir replica stick together has decayed and must be removed to protect public safety.
The district says its goal now is to seek expressions of interest from community organizations or individuals looking to make use of a large hockey stick.
At more than 28,000 kilograms, the stick was originally built for Expo 86 in Vancouver before arriving at the Cowichan Community Centre, where it has been on display ever since.
The puck stops here as a B.C. town hoists the world’s largest stick and puck.
In a CBC News report on the hockey stick coming to Duncan, residents expressed their hope of it becoming a tourist attraction.
“It’s going to enchant the whole community,” said one man in the report.
Another compared it to other world landmarks, joking, “whoever heard of Paris before the Eiffel Tower?”
But despite best efforts at maintaining it, time has taken its toll on the landmark.
Last year, a northern flicker — a type of woodpecker — started drilling holes in the stick’s side, which led to a wider conversation about the cost and risks of keeping the stick on display.
The district says a public survey about the future of the stick found few respondents calling for efforts to repair or replace the prominent landmark, ultimately leading to the decision to try and find a private owner for it.
Tom Duncan, acting chair of the Cowichan Core Recreation Commission, told CBC News that of the more than 3,300 responses received, more than seventy per cent said “it was just not in the cards” to keep the stick, especially at an estimated cost of $1.5 million for maintenance.
“It’s sad,” he said of the pending loss of the stick in the community. “There’s certainly going to be some wet eyes and some tears shed.”
But, he said, it’s clear that while people have enjoyed having the stick for the past three decades, there are other priorities for the community, including upgrading the four-decade old arena where it is currently on display.
Duncan also said his community’s hockey stick might not hold the title of “world’s biggest” for long, as the community of Lockport, Illinois voted earlier this year to build a 76.2-metre one to go outside their new arena.
“But, we had the [world’s biggest stick] for nearly four decades,” he said. “We have to remember that.”