SUNDRE — The president of the local recreational hockey league said the organization’s recently wrapped up registration period saw an increase in the number of players signed up over previous years.
“There’s about 30 new families to the program,” said Shawn MacNeil, Sundre Rec Hockey Association president. “So, that’s nice to see.”
Including those who returned to play for another year, that translated to about 80 players – up around five from the past several seasons – spread out over five teams in all, said MacNeil.
“All of our teams are full right now,” he said. “So far, it’s going really good this year.”
Although games – which usually start in early November – had yet to be scheduled when MacNeil spoke with the Albertan late last week ahead of the early Thanksgiving deadline, he said players had been getting the chance to start practising since late September.
That included one clinic put on in early October by Val Norrie from Olds, who runs a program called Norrie Power Skating, he said, adding another clinic put on by Norrie will take place later this month.
And the association’s home tournament, when the Sundre Mustangs host a number of regional recreational teams, is slotted for the first weekend in February, he said.
While roughly half of the last season was free from pandemic-related restrictions, the 2022-23 season will be the first since the onset of COVID-19 that organizers can look forward to without being faced with telling fans to stay home.
“This is our first (season) – in what, three years now – that there’s no restrictions and we can pack up the building with fans when they want to come to our games,” said MacNeil, later adding he “absolutely” is looking forward to the coming year.
“We don’t have to restrict the number of fans,” he said. “So it’s really nice for the kids.”
While the rec hockey organization is willing to work with new families that might have just relocated to town and missed the registration deadline, it is otherwise too late to sign up new players, he said.
“The only way that we might make an exception, is if you’re new to the area and didn’t know about it,” he said in response to being asked whether registrations were still being accept with a late charge.
“But right now, all of our teams are sitting at pretty good numbers, so it’s closed to anybody local.”
To help keep fees as low as reasonably possible, the organization is currently conducting its fall bacon fundraiser, with orders being accepted until this Saturday, Oct. 15 and pickup day for deliveries scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the arena. Anyone salivating over the thought of frying up slices of bacon while supporting the youth rec hockey league is encouraged to either connect with any of the organization's members or players, or alternatively send a message through the group’s social media page.
