A group of students from St. Clair College recently proved that innovation in hockey doesn’t always come from players or coaches. Sometimes, it comes from the classroom. The college students won an NHL award for their creative thinking and forward ideas. 

The students from dozens of colleges and universities in Ontario participated in the NHL’s annual Hockey Innovation Competition. They submitted their project, and eventually, the competition narrowed down to six final teams.  

However, it was the St. Clair group's project 'Reignite the Rink' that secured the win alongside a team from Queen's University. Their concept, which focused on modernizing aging community hockey arenas while making them more sustainable and accessible for future generations.

It suggested replacing old and worn-out arenas with new, modern facilities in different regions across Ontario. The plan also focused on capturing waste heat from ice production and using digital connectivity to turn these rinks into community spaces again.

The idea was partly inspired by Windsor Arena, a historic venue that is no longer in operation.

The National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association announced ‘The Innovator Award’ to the Windsor, Ontario team. The event happened on April 01, 2026 (Wednesday) at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

Sausha Goodhand, Elle Hebert, Airika Natyshak, and Aryanna Pierson were the students from St. Clair who were involved in the competition. 

This contest inspired students to use their skills to create viable hockey-based solutions for improving the state of existing hockey-related facilities across Ontario.

St. Clair’s Professor On Winning The First Prize in NHL Competition

Dwayne St. John, the professor from St. Clair College, talked about the competition and the problems the students were solving. “The competition was absolutely amazing,” said Dwayne. "Most of the rinks are well over 40 years old. They're huge energy consumers, and the price tag to rent the ice is extremely high.”

He also praised the St. Clair College students for proposing creative solutions to cut costs and revive community-focused hockey rinks.

“They had some very creative ideas to reduce energy costs, get more people into the rinks and make them more of a community hub like they used to be when I was growing up,” he said.

One of the students, Sausha Goodhand, also opened up about the concept and what the whole team has developed.

She said, “The main idea was to take all of the wasted heat energy that it costs to refrigerate the ice. A lot of arenas can spend over $160-thousand a year just for ice refrigeration”. 

The success of the St. Clair College team highlights a broader trend in hockey — innovation is becoming just as important as performance on the ice.

The NHL Hockey Innovation Competition is one of the ways leagues are looking to grow their game and cut costs by using new ideas from people outside of their sport.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Kapil Manghnani