Fun weekend

Times Editor 

 

The Wheatland Athletics Association (WAA) officially closed out the 2012-2013 season with their annual three-on-three hockey tournament April 4, 6 & 7 at the Strathmore Family Centre.

Upcoming atom, peewee and bantam-aged players from the WAA draw area took part in the fun tournament, which introduced the players to the association.

“It’s a chance for us to expose our program to the minor hockey systems we draw from, to bring them in for a fun event,” said WAA president Sandy Henry. “It’s an opportunity for those kids to socialize with kids outside of their own community, maybe kids they had to play against all year … they now get to play with some of those kids on the same team. We want the minor hockey systems (in the draw area) to consider us when it is tryout time in the fall.”

According to Henry, the three-on-three is not an evaluation tournament, rather a fun weekend versus players their own age.

Despite being hosted by the WAA, the tournament is not only for elite level players, but for teens who want to have fun on the ice, regardless of skill level.

“There is no evaluation involved – we take the registration (forms) and try and divide the kids up into teams as evenly as we can,” said Henry. “It’s more just about giving the people a chance to see who the faces of our organization are. We do have great board member involvement at the tournament.”

The annual three-on-three tournament has been in existence since the early 1990’s and is looking to grow in the future.

With the current format, there is a lot of open ice, which makes for some fun and exciting hockey to watch.

According to Henry, 112 players took part in the tournament, which is about a dozen more kids than last year.