Olds College is applying to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) to ice a women's hockey team for the 2015-16 season, the Olds Albertan has learned.Bob Murray, director of athletics, fitness and recreation for the college, confirmed the ACAC has visited the school and the Olds Sports Complex to consider the college's bid.“We're in the application stages right now of the women's hockey initiative and we had a site visit from ACAC, come and see our site as well as the rink and they were very pleased with our application,” Murray said.He made the comments after the Olds College Broncos awards banquet on April 8 at the school's Alumni Centre.The school will find out if its bid is successful in mid-May, he said.If the application is successful, the school would need time to hire staff and recruit players, which is why the application is for two seasons down the road.“So we would be making all our preparations between now and then if we're successful,” Murray said.Olds College decided it would apply after mulling over a team's viability.Murray said the school concluded that a women's team would fill demand for athletes and boost female hockey in town.“So we went around and we asked a lot of central Alberta and even though there is a women's hockey team in Red Deer, we did feel that there was a lot of student-athletes out there that just don't get the chance to play at the next level,” he said. “So it was an opportunity for us to bring in more student athletes, which obviously Olds College is all about, as well as to be able to grow female hockey in Olds.”Growing female hockey in town would be something Jacqui Piebiak, the coordinator for atom and peewee girls at the Olds Minor Hockey Association, would look forward to.“I think that would be great. Women's hockey is really something that's on the rise and I have a daughter that plays it,” Piebiak said. “The more opportunities that would be available for her in the future is a bonus.”“For the older girls, it would give them somewhere to play after they were done with our program,” she continued.Piebiak would like to see the Olds College team and OMHA work together, specifically having college players help coach younger girls and mentor them.“That would also help with keeping the girls interested and just seeing where they could go and I think it's beneficial for those older girls as well to play that kind of a role,” she said.Murray said building ties to the rest of the town is one motive behind the bid.“That's part of what ACAC is excited about, our bid package, is that we want to connect the community as much as possible to be part of our women's hockey program,” he said.When asked if a men's team was in the works, Murray said the college is a supporter of the Olds Grizzlys and would not want to compete with the club. However, he left the possibility open-ended.“We're going to give our support to help them in whatever way we can,” he said. “I don't think we'd probably want to do that but maybe down the road at some point if it was available, but not right now.”[email protected]
