INNISFAIL – With the ice now in at the Innisfail Arena, local sports teams and organizations have begun fall and winter schedules.
Innisfail Minor Hockey Association teams took to the ice last week, installed on the blue side, in preparation for the upcoming season.
“These are conditioning camps to get the kids back on the ice and get them moving again,” said Stephen Bates, president of the association. “We will probably start to see the first exhibition games towards the end of the month or early October.”
Bates noted that conditioning camps for all levels of minor hockey run for about a week before evaluations take place near the end of September.
“That’s when the tryouts will get going and we’ll see some inter-squad games in order to choose those teams,” he said.
Teams will include players at the Eaglettes, dynamite, novice, atom, peewee, bantam and midget levels, said Bates, noting they will again be part of the Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL) this season.
“We usually get through most of October with tiering games, trying to place each team where they fit best in the league,” he said. “We usually start actual league games the second week of November.”
Most players participating in conditioning camps last week were returning players, said Bates.
“Most of our new players are at the four-, five- and six-year-old (range) and we’re trying to keep those kids right up through until midget if possible,” he added. “We have seen a slight drop in our numbers this year, mostly at the midget level.”
One thing you won’t see this season are female hockey teams.
“Unfortunately we don’t have any female teams this year. We didn’t have enough (female players) at each age group to actually make a team for each age group,” said Bates. “That’s the first time in a long time we haven’t had female hockey teams."
The association is still open to holding the annual female hockey development camp, he noted, to encourage more female players to try the sport.
Bates said he hopes to see female hockey return next year.
Registration for minor hockey is open until January.
“If anybody wants to come play hockey, we have until (early) January in order to put kids on a team,” said Bates. “If somebody wants to play we’re not going to turn them away.”
As players prepare for the season, Bates looks forward to another successful year on the ice.
“Our goal, as every year, is get these kids out here, improve their skills, make them better hockey players and hopefully everybody walks away at the end of the year having fun,” said Bates. “We want these kids to come back year after year after year.”
For more information visit Innisfail Minor Hockey Association on Facebook or www.innisfailminorhockey.com
