Wheatland Kings take leave of absen

Times Reporter 

 

After finishing their fifth season, Directors of the Strathmore Wheatland Kings Junior Hockey team, Bob Grove and Doug Murphy, have decided to take a year off to explore their options. 

The Heritage Junior Hockey League granted the team a leave of absence for the upcoming season, after which they will return to the matter by next April, to see if anyone else is interested in taking over the team. If not, the team will disband.

“I think for both Bob and I, it ended up being too much time, too much money, and not enough fun the last couple years,” said Murphy, who was also head coach and general manager of the team. 

Both Murphy and Grove helped create the team after seeing how sad their previous Midget Tier 1 players would get upon realizing that this was likely the final step in their hockey careers, as there was no step above at the time.

Each put in their own money to keep the team going, which is much higher than other teams around the league, though most are financially supported in some way by their directors.

“We knew that going in, it was a new franchise. You have to start from scratch. A set of jerseys is ten grand,” Murphy said.

Jerseys weren’t the only financial burden. The team paid an adult user fee for practice space, about the same amount of what a beer league hockey team from Calgary would pay. This is double the amount of minor hockey or ringette charges.

“At one point, in talking with the Town, one of the counselors was going to see if they could pass a resolution that would look at junior hockey differently, more particularly in the rates,” he said.

But nothing came of it, and the directors felt a real lack of progress regarding the situation. 

“The reason we started the team was to give Strathmore players a place to play. Neither Bob or I had kids that were involved in it, so it wasn’t about us – it was about the kids,” Murphy said. “Unfortunately, if it does end up folding, it’ll be back to the same situation as it was before where guys are traveling up to Three Hills or Okotoks.”

Grove has two grandsons now, and wishes to spend more free time traveling with his wife. Murphy put in roughly 30 to 60 hours per week into the team, and says it became more of a drain than a pleasure. He’s considering moving closer to family, due to his wife’s health.

Should the team find a new ownership, the Wheatland Kings are able to keep the rights to five players. All other players will be released.

“I think the one thing that both Bob and I would like is for somebody to come forward, and take the team over. Strathmore’s a great hockey town, we’ve had the most and the best fans in the league for the last five seasons,” Murphy said. “We’ve got an unbelievable group of volunteers, most of whom have been with us right from the very start. It would be sad to see it go.”

Anyone interested taking over the Wheatland Kings can contact Doug Murphy at doug@mcps.ca.