With the ice barely set at the arena, Boyle Minor Hockey (BMHA) is looking for ways to get more kids into the game.
The ice was all ready on Friday, but association president Dmytro Sawka explained that while things are looking good with the season starting soon, his top priority is to bring up the number of registered players primarily at in the younger age groups.
“Like a lot of rural areas, we are struggling a bit to get players at all levels,” he said.
“However, we are especially looking for players at the pre-novice and atom levels, where our teams are really small right now. It would be nice to see it look like it has in previous seasons.”
Sawka explained that if you get good numbers at the lower levels, that supports the high levels as the players grow.
“Once you get them at the younger ages, then as they move through it supports the older age groups,” he stated.
“I look at Athabasca and sure, the town is bigger, but hockey has been growing there at the younger levels for the last few years now. Boyle is growing too, so there is no reason we can’t have enough players at all levels.”
Right now, Boyle has one team in each division from Pre-Novice right up to Bantam.
The executive is looking into other ways to promote hockey in the area, with ideas ranging from reduced rates for younger ages to free skates and free equipment swaps.
“We need to make it more appealing and we know that the cost can be expensive for equipment,” Sawka said.
“So we are looking at that also and searching for other ways to drive interest.”
He added the misconception that it takes up a lot of time isn’t true at the lower age groups.
“In Pre-Novice and Novice, they practice twice a week after school and most of their games are, at most, an hour away. And there are always parents willing to drive if you can’t make it, so it’s not as tough as it seems,” Sawka stated.
The only division not struggling is in PeeWee, where Boyle had 18 players registered even before it was announced the North Central AA program isn’t having a team this year.
“(Our PeeWee division) is the one positive we can look at right now,” Sawka said.
“We have a good group of executives and parents here. They have always given us a lot of support and I’m confident that things will work out.”
