More than halfway through the Westlock & District Minor Hockey Association’s regular season, it’s shaping up to be another successful year.
Association president Dean Fagnan said all in all he’s pleased with the numbers, the level of parent and volunteer involvement and the conduct both on and off the ice.
In terms of numbers, the association has a few more this year than last year, with about 130 players compared to 120 — meaning the association has fielded the same number of teams it has in the past.
“The numbers are really good. We’ve got two teams at the younger levels,” he said. “We have one team at bantam, and kind of one and a half in midget.”
The half a midget team he refers to plays on Barrhead’s Tier 2 midget team, while the Westlock Warriors midget team plays in Tier 4.
Whether the teams are playing in the higher or lower tiers, however, Fagnan said the association has achieved its goal of having every team playing good hockey according to individual skills levels.
“All our teams have found a place to play and are playing competitive hockey, which is one of our goals,” he said.
There have been two big changes for the association this year, with the most significant being playing their first season in a new facility, the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre. This has helped raise the exposure of minor hockey and of Westlock as a whole.
“There’s definitely been more community exposure, but it also gives our parents a chance to be more active,” he said. “The people that come are very impressed, for sure.”
He noted when he talks with parents from other communities, they are impressed that a town Westlock’s size has been able to build such an impressive building.
The other big change this year is the Respect in Sport program, which has become mandatory for all parents who come out to games. It’s an online course that deals with the issue of how parents should conduct themselves at games.
Fagnan said the program became mandatory as a result of a push from some of the larger associations, where the boards were dealing with off-ice discipline issues nearly every week.
While he said the program is a good one, he noted parents in Westlock don’t tend to get out of hand the way other parents can. “I think parents are good at policing themselves,” he said. “Overall, we have not dealt a lot with our parents in that way.”
At the board level, Fagnan said it’s sometimes difficult to get all the positions filled until after the season starts, but parents and volunteers always step up and take on the jobs that need to be done.
“It’s a lot of work for people who are there, but we’ve got some great people,” he said.
