CREMONA - As February winds down, hockey leagues throughout Alberta head into playoffs. Cremona Minor Hockey is no exception, with a couple of teams eyeing provincials.
The Cremona association has had 85 players lace up the skates this year across five teams, including two at the tyke level (aged 3-6) and one each at atom (9-10), peewee (11-12) and novice (7-8).
Jeremy Liesemer, president of Cremona Minor Hockey, said the league is doing well this year, with numbers remaining steady in comparison to recent years.
"We have a tyke house team and a tyke travel team that plays in the 2 and 27 league with Sundre, Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs and Crossfield," said Liesemer. "We have a big novice team, which has 20-plus players. They play half-ice. They split the team into two and each half plays on one side of the ice. They play in a league with a bunch of Cochrane teams, Canmore and Banff."
Cremona's bantam and peewee teams play in the Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL), he said.
"They both will make playoffs," he said. "The atom team will make provincials. We just started the second round of that. We're hoping to make the final tournament. The peewees are going to finish second in their tier and on to playoffs soon."
Each of the teams have played in a number of tournaments throughout Alberta and B.C.
Liesemer said the association is hoping to have enough players next year to run a bantam (13-14) team as well.
"Our overall numbers are similar to last year," he said. "We're hoping with any luck that we'll have a bantam team next year if the numbers stay the way they are. Hopefully, there'll be some kids that haven't played because there hasn't been a bantam team in previous years. They may come back or want to come to Cremona to play."
Cremona Minor Hockey plays in the Cremona Arena, which is operated by the local ag society. Liesemer said they will be doing a big renovation which will hopefully be ready by the start of next season.
Coming up on March 14 will be the Cremona Minor Hockey Cowboys alumni players and Calgary Flames alumni players against the Cremona coaches. "The game will be a fundraiser for the arena additions," he said. "They'll be adding four new dressing rooms, a weight/workout room, and a big lobby with an elevator for wheelchair access to the upstairs."
