Strathmore minor hockey surprised by turnout

Melissa Strle
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Minor Hockey Association will soon be starting its season, with evaluations starting the second week of September and running to the first week in October.
Association president Kevin Brelis said the association expected registrant numbers to go down this year due to the flailing Alberta economy; however, numbers have stayed about the same.
“Normally we have about 400 players every season, and it looks like with our final registration deadline coming Sept. 2, there’s a good chance that we’re probably going to hit that 400 again,” said Brelis. “It was kind of a surprise.
“When a child likes a sport and wants to play it, I think parents find a way to have them play. It allows for activity and exercise. I think parents would rather put their money into that than have their child sitting on a computer or video game.”
According to Brelis, parents are able to go to groups such as KidSport Canada and Canadian Tire’s Jump Start program to receive small subsidies towards sports fees.
“We’ve seen an increase in those over the last couple of years and I think we’re definitely on the same train this year,” he said. “We’re going to see more of those than we have in previous years.”
Brelis said that committees have been really busy throughout the summer getting things done.
The association will focus on fundraising this year and will be looking at various ways to create a fundraising program to generate some yearly fundraising dollars to cover various things such as new jerseys. The current jerseys are coming to the end of their lifespan.
“With the economy, we have to make sure we have some money in the bank to be able to cover the sponsors that might not be able to help us out this year or in the next couple years,” said Brelis.
After evaluations, the seeding round will start around the second week of October and run for approximately five to six games. After that, the different tiers will be finalized and the regular season will start.
The association will run programs for players from three years of age through to 17 years, including Intro to Hockey for beginners through to Timbit, novice, atom, pee wee, bantam and midget.