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Inaugural Celly Hard Ball Hockey League season a success

Jun 22, 2017 | 5:33 PM

There might not be ice on the surface at the Pineridge Ford Arena on Flying Dust First Nation, but many Meadow Lake-area kids with hockey sticks have been dueling it out over the last couple months.

As the first ever season of ball hockey wraps up, arena manager and coordinator of the program Clay DeBray said that it’s been a great one.

What started as a way to keep kids active after the regular hockey season has grown in interest, he said.

“This is the first ever year of ball hockey,” DeBray said. “When I started managing the arena, I had a breakfast program for the kids, I just felt to keep the kids in the hockey mind, organizing the ball hockey would be a great idea, and it was a great year for it. There were a little over 100 kids that signed up.”

He said the main goal of the league was an effort to keep local kids active. There were a total of 8 teams in two different categories, novice/atom (eight to twelve year olds) and peewee/bantam (13 to 15-year-olds). Each team played a total of 16 games throughout the last several weeks.

“The biggest purpose was for these kids to either get in shape or stay in shape and improve their endurance,” he said. “After every game these kids are drenched in sweat, it’s pretty grueling. You’re working on your shot, you’re working on your play making you’re working on your positioning.”

He said it was great to see the participants get into the game, and the league ended up being a competitive one for the girls and boys that took part.

“Especially in the younger groups, all the games were so close,” he said. “They were one or two goal games, it was pretty even across the board throughout the season can’t ask for more. Next year hopefully with the extra kids, then it can be separate even more to have a division for each age group.”

DeBray said even though it was definitely a competitive league, it was amazing being able to see the high level of enthusiasm the children had for ball hockey, especially since it was a new program.

“It was competitive for sure,” he said. “sometimes when a team would lose, they were hurt and upset, but they got over it and the next time they were here they had a big smile and raring to go again. Sure, the top two teams get medals and trophies, but it’s more about the kids having fun coming out getting in shape, staying shape, working on skill development.”

Amanda Pockrant is parent that had two children in each age group. She said that the league was incredibly well organized, and that she thought it was a fantastic social and physical fitness experience for her sons.

“My kids loved it, they had a blast,” she said. “It was great for them to be around with their friends. We live on an acreage, so our kids couldn’t really go out and play a pick-up game. It was so much fun for them. It was so well organized, I knew exactly what was going on all the time, it ran very smoothly.”

DeBray said that he was thankful for the parent involvement this season, and that was a big reason for the league’s success. 

“I’m so thankful for the volunteers,” he said. It wasn’t set in stone on coaching, but parents were always willing to step up. Some coached on the bench, did the scorekeeping and the timekeeping. While I was preparing and refereeing the games, they really helped out.”

He said next year, there will be teams from Meadow Lake, Waterhen First Nation and Canoe Lake First Nation. There were participants from the city, St. Walberg and Makwa this year. Another goal for next year is to send local teams to the provincial ball hockey finals.

“It’s a sport that’s picking up more and more,” he said. “There is a Saskatchewan Ball Hockey Association, and they have a provincial championship, for next year I’m hoping we can make a team a team in each age group and enter them into the provincials – that’s one of the goals.”

The championships for the novice/atom league is tonight at 6 p.m. 

 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath