Two special guests have been lined up for the Sundre Minor Hockey Association's second annual players versus coaches in tutus season windup game called Twinkle Toes.
Former NHL players Curtis Glencross and Sheldon Kennedy, whose careers included time with the Calgary Flames, will be hitting the ice at the Sundre Arena this Friday, March 31.
"At this point they are expected to be in tutus as well," Kim Hogarth, the minor hockey association's fundraising coordinator, said last week during an interview with the Round Up.
"The surprise will be which team they'll be playing on."
Twinkle Toes, which ran last year for the first time, challenges all the teams in minor hockey to raise $1,000 to get their coaches wearing a tutu for the game. This year, the ante was upped by having Kennedy and Glencross participate, she said.
The association had originally hoped to arrange a Flames alumni game, but the local logistics would not have been able to accommodate such an event. However, after contacting the team, the two former players volunteered their time to play in the local season windup event. The puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m., she said.
"We're hoping to get a full arena to come support minor hockey. It's not super common to get former NHL players to come support you!"
Meanwhile, minor hockey in Sundre has experienced some growth over the past year, said Dorothy Thengs, the association's president.
"Next year, we will have a bantam team and a midget team," she said, adding the association will also be accepting registration for a female team or two, depending on interest. Teams are expected to be fielded at every other level from tykes on up as well.
As of last week, the Sundre peewee A Huskies were the only squad still in playoff rounds contesting the league banner against Red Deer's peewee tier 3 team.
After losing the first game in the best-of-three series the week before in Red Deer, the Huskies hit home ice on Friday night in a make-it-or-break-it match, edging out a narrow 3-2 victory to force the finals into the third round.
The final game was played on Sunday in Red Deer, where the home team claimed a close 3-2 victory in overtime. Although the Huskies lost and were a bit disappointed, the players had every reason to hold their heads up high, said team manager Tasha Barnett.
"They played very well, so they should be proud of themselves," she told the Round Up Monday morning.
"Going into overtime, that's always a sign that it was a good game."
The bantam squad, which represented the highest level of local hockey this season, was unable to reach playoffs, and wrapped up their season with a tournament in Invermere, B.C. on the weekend of March 11-12, said coach Andrew Perry.
"We really came together near the end," said the 20-year-old coach, adding, "Everybody developed really well in my mind."
Five of the bantam Huskies will be moving up to the midget team next year, with about a dozen remaining on the squad, he said.
The young coach was once an avid player himself ó even playing AAA bantam in Red Deer ó but a knee injury at the age of 16 prevented him from pursuing that path further. Perry later decided to help coach, essentially to pay it forward and to give back an opportunity that others had once given him. But running a team is not a one-person effort, and he praised the other coaches and team staff who volunteer their time so the kids can play.
"They helped me out a lot."
