The number of squads participating in the Sundre FunTeam Rec Hockey’s annual tournament has in recent years remained roughly on par, the league’s president said.
"We’ve held fairly steady over the last three years,” Shawn MacNeil told the Round Up.
Including five local squads, a total of 15 teams played at the Sundre Arena from Friday to Sunday, he said, adding that represents nearly 240 players, which also includes 70 from the area.
"Our numbers aren’t going down, which is a good thing.”
Local businesses support the annual tournament, which has been running about as long as the league has been around, by way of offering donations and prizes for the event, he said.
"We’re really well supported by the community.”
The fundraiser also features a raffle as well as a 50-50 draw that the Sundre Day Care ran this year, he said, adding the partner organization is also sponsoring the ice.
"It’s the first year we’ve teamed up with another organization.”
Over the weekend, each team got the opportunity to play two games. In tiers 1, 2, 4 and 5, the Sundre teams all went undefeated to place first, whereas the local tier 3 squad won one game and lost another to place second, he said.
"Overall, the Sundre teams went nine and one,” he said.
All of the players in the first two tiers were presented with medals, and all of the players in tiers 3, 4 and 5 were offered gift cards to a local restaurant. The raffle table was well supported, and considering the cold conditions over the weekend, there were many fans who came out to show their support, he said.
Run under the banner of a provincial organization called FunTeam Alberta, the local chapter has been active in Sundre for about 15 years, he said, adding many towns have their own versions.
The five Sundre squads break down into five age-based tiers, the first of which is for children around 4 to 6 years old, going all the way up to the 16 to 19 age range. However, rules in the recreational league are not particularly strict, and the organization attempts to accommodate parents who request that siblings remain on the same team despite a difference of a couple of years in age, he said.
"It’s going pretty good actually,” he said when asked how the season has been coming along to date. Between practices and games, teams generally play once or twice a week, he added.
Courtesy of contributions from several local businesses that amounted to about $6,000, Sundre’s recreational hockey league was this year able to replace all of the teams’ jerseys.
"That would not have been possible without generous donations.”
