INNISFAIL - The town’s baby hockey eagles have made their annual dash and splash on ice.
For seven unforgettable minutes during the first intermission of the Innisfail Eagles’ senior men’s game on Jan. 21, the Tim Hortons Eaglettes hockey team showed the crowd of nearly 300 what four-year-olds are capable of, after only putting on skates for the first time just three months earlier.
The Eaglettes, coached by Bernie Vanderham, who is now in his 12th year running the program with his son Logan, scrimmaged at two ends of the ice; skating, falling, getting back up, skating a little bit more, falling again, and sometimes shooting at the net.
No matter how that might look, the one certainty was these kids were always adorable. And every stride and splash on the ice brought plenty of "awes” and "oohs” from the delighted crowd.
"Most kids did not know how to skate, and once a year they get to showcase their talent at an Eagles game and we get seven minutes to show the public our newly acquired skills,” said Vanderham, whose team is under the umbrella of the Innisfail Minor Hockey Association (IMHA). The young players have been practising at the Arena since Oct. 16 and will continue their first-ever season into the second week of March.
"We are learning how to stop now. At the start they just learned how to stand up, fall down and get up again,” he added. "And now we have progressed to working on turns left and right, and we’re going to be introducing backwards skating soon, but right now we are working on stops. They are starting to get the forward motion going. They are starting to get a stride going, so it’s coming.”
Vanderham said this year’s seven-minute showcase was extra special for the kids because they had a chance to visit the Eagles’ new NHL-style dressing room and meet head coach Brian Sutter.
"It is pretty special tonight because they got to look and go into a real hockey dressing room, and they got introduced to Mr. (Brian) Sutter, who is a legend,” he said. "I introduced Mr. Sutter to the kids. Mr. Sutter talked to the kids, and they got to see the room. So it was pretty special.”
And when their seven minutes were over the kids received heartfelt applause from the appreciative crowd. Some waved their sticks back. They were given big pats on the back by the coaches on the ice. They all smiled.
"The kids were really pumped up from the start,” said Vanderham.
He said the next big event for the Eaglettes is on March 2 when they demonstrate their new hockey skills during the intermission of a Red Deer Rebels game.
Vanderham said the year will end for the young players with a couple of full scrimmage games that are designed to introduce them to the IMHA’s Dynamite level.
For more information on the Eaglettes program, which hosts a registration evening for new players every spring and fall, go to the IMHA website at www.innisfailminorhockey.com
Bernie Vanderham, head coach of the Tim Hortons Eaglettes
"Most kids did not know how to skate, and once a year they get to showcase their talent at an Eagles game and we get seven minutes to show the public our newly acquired skills."
