ATHABASCA – Athabasca’s first-ever junior hockey is inching closer to opening night, and now fans will have a name to chant and cheer for once the puck drops this fall.
The Athabasca Rivermen Junior A hockey club announced their new name and logo Aug. 14 after running a contest for fans to suggest the name of the new team earlier this month.
“The name shows strength and that’s familiar with the community; the community is very resilient and that’s the type of team we want to be. We want to be a resilient group and a tough group,” said Jacob Hegerfeldt, the team’s owner and general manager.
The Rivermen was one of many suggestions the team fielded, winning out over options like the Rapids, Blades, River Runners, Reeds, Riverhawks, and the always-present Athabasca River Rats.
“We went with the Rivermen because it reflects the type of team we want to be, and it reflected best on the town,” said Hegerfeldt.
The teams logo was also included in the announcement, although the jersey reveal hasn’t happened yet. The primary logo is an old school ship’s wheel, with a river and pine trees in the centre of the circle.
“We wanted to include the river, and we wanted the colours to really pop out,” said Hegerfeldt.
While he wouldn’t announce the team’s primary colours, the logo is predominantly red and blue – stay tuned for the official announcement.
“We’re going to be unveiling the jersey in the coming days, we’re going to have some player signings and things like that soon. We want to make this a positive experience for our players and for our team to prosper,’ he said.
“We’re going to be doing a call for billets and volunteers and things like that, so there’s going to be a lot of things moving forward as we go into the season.”
