SMHA ready for another busy season

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

There is so much hockey on deck this season that the Strathmore Minor Hockey Association will need a shoehorn to fit all the games into the Strathmore Family Centre.
Actually, numbers are up so much compared to two years ago, according to SMHA president Natalie Haslund, that teams are forced to look elsewhere for ice time.
“Atom and novice teams are having to practice in Rockyford, Hussar, Standard and Gleichen,” said Haslund. “There are about eight practices per week that require ice from elsewhere.”
The growth of the hockey program is staggering. Its numbers have inflated nearly by 100 kids over the past two years. This year, there are 482 kids registered, up from last year’s total of 448.
The total number of teams requiring ice is also up by three, for a total of 30. There are seven age programs across the system, starting with an introductory program for kids aged three to five, all the way up to midget. There are also four female teams this year, one more than last year.
One would think with the loss of the much-loved midget AAA franchise, that a vast section of ice time would open up, but that isn’t the case.
“The Bisons usually only practiced from 2:30 (p.m.) until 4 in the afternoon. The earliest our practices start is 4 p.m.,” said Haslund, who has been the president of SMHA since April. “We did not gain much ice time from them leaving.”
In fact, the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League reached out to SMHA, asking to hold a pair of exhibition games at the Family Centre to test the temperature for interest in Junior A hockey in Strathmore.
“We have played out in Strathmore before and it worked well. We got good crowds, good atmosphere and it’s always good to expand the brand,” said Canucks president Pat Loyer. “We are going to start with two games and then reassess things. If things go well, we will add a couple games.
“Strathmore is a good place for a (Junior A) team. As of right now, the Canucks have no need to relocate our franchise.”
The Canucks have agreed to play at the Family Centre Nov. 19 (2:30 p.m.) when they host the Okotoks Oilers, and Dec. 8 when they host the defending AJHL champion Brooks Bandits (7:30 p.m.).
Should enough fans turn out, the Canucks would return in the New Year for another pair of regular season games. During the Junior A event, there will be a 50-50 draw and a raffle table as a way to raise money for the SMHA.
If a Junior A team were to call Strathmore home one day, more ice would seem to be a necessity.
Even without adopting another team, Haslund already reached out to local MLA Derek Fildebrandt about the possibility of developing a new arena.
“We talked about what we need in town, why we need it and how it would be supported by the community,” said Haslund. “It isn’t just us that uses the ice, the AA programs, figure skating, ringette programs and recreation leagues use the ice, too.”
Haslund hasn’t heard anything back from the Town of Strathmore or from Fildebrandt about her proposal. All she has been told is that they are working on it.
“As far as the arena is concerned, I have been hearing from many parents about the need for more ice time. It’s definitely on this council’s radar, and we asked administration to come up with terms of reference for a new committee whose sole focus would be on that concept,” said newly elected Mayor Pat Fule prior to the election. “I’m in favour of a new arena, we just need to get all the heads of the stakeholder groups together to start planning.”
New arena or not, despite the large numbers, there is actually a shortage on puck stoppers in the association.
“We have to grow and generate goalies in the peewee and bantam levels, and we are bringing in a program that we think will help that out,” said Haslund.
The P3 Training hockey developmental group will hold three goalie instruction courses starting in November. There will be one per month, ending in January, as they hope to educate and teach kids about the goaltending position.
But the puck doesn’t stop there with P3’s help.
A lot of the time, parents who coach at the introduction and Timbit levels have not coached before. P3 Training is stepping in and will help new coaches out by coming up with new practice programs and drills for the kids, to help teach the game.
The atom program and their experienced coaches will be ready to roll when the atom tournament comes to the Strathmore Family Centre Nov. 10-12. More than 40 teams from across Alberta will gravitate into town for the tournament.
The novice program will also host a very similar tournament later in the season, running Jan. 5-7 at the Family Centre.
The SMHA regular season got under way last week. They plan on hosting provincial tournaments across a few age groups, but has to wait until middle of December to hear to if they were awarded the right to host the tournaments or not.