INNISFAIL – Darlene Thompson could not believe the turnout.
Both rinks at the Innisfail Twin Arena were packed on April 22 with adults on one side, and kids on the other.
On this gorgeous early spring day there was excitement both inside and outside of the arena.
It was the 26th Annual Spring Fever Road Hockey Tournament, and hundreds of kids and adults were eagerly attending to take part in a classic national sporting pastime.
The road hockey tournament, hosted since 1997 by local sports legend Dean Turnquist, has raised more than $300,000 for the Helping Hand Fund that was created to support financially challenged children to be involved in local minor sports.
“I think everybody's really excited this year to be out. It's a really good turnout for both adults and the kids,” said Thompson, who has been a committed volunteer for local minor sports for more than 25 years.
She has been volunteering for the Helping Hand Fund for the past decade.
“It’s good to see it's (tournament) coming back around where it's becoming more popular again,” said Thompson.
For Turnquist the high-volume excitement at both sides of the arena was music to his ears.
He was especially impressed with the increased number of children who each paid $30 to play in the road hockey tournament. As for the adults, they pay $300 per team.
“I always think this is neat to see all the kids because they play for a 30-minute game, and then they run around here for an hour between games and then they get out there and play again,” said Turnquist. “Hopefully parents like it and their kids are just worn right out. But everybody seems to have a ball.”
Turnquist said last year there were only five kids’ teams that played the tourney. He said in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, there was not enough support for kids’ teams to enter the event.
“It's coming back a little bit,” said Turnquist. “Our biggest challenge is that lacrosse has their stuff starting and baseball has a little bit of thing starting, and then there’s spring hockey. So, we lose some of those kids that play that.
“We're hoping to continue to build the following with this young group and keep adding teams every year,” he said, adding there was enough support this year to have nine kids’ teams, almost doubling the 2022 number. “We'd love to get back to the heyday when we used to get 25 to 30 teams every year without having to work at it too much.”
As for the total number of participants, kids and adults, for this year’s Spring Fever Road Hockey Tournament, Turnquist estimated the number to be about 180, compared to 110 last year.
“There are certainly more kids’ teams,” said Turnquist in explaining the renewed popularity. He said there were many teams that came in from different parts of Central Alberta, including Rocky Mountain House and Penhold.
In the meantime, while the increased participant numbers for the tourney is building renewed excitement after the doldrums of the pandemic, the money raised from the event, as well as from the evening cabaret at the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion Branch #104 that featured local entertainer Cole Malone and his band, is expected to raise about $5,000 for the Helping Hand Fund.
That’s money going into the community that will ensure every kid in town will have a chance to play, and have a loved one watch.
“I'm really happy with lots of parents here to watch the kids and grandkids play,” said Turnquist. “And I think that's always a great attraction.”
