There were 122 potential future NHL stars on the ice at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre last Saturday, putting their skills into practice at one of the first major tournaments of their hockey careers.
Tournament organizer Vanessa Boulerice said this was the first time a TimBits Initiation Hockey Tournament was held in Westlock, and it was by all measures a great success — with many compliments on the facility itself.
“We heard so much positive feedback, and the kids all had a blast,” she said. “We’ve had managers from other teams already saying it was the best tournament they’ve been to.”
For tournaments at the initiation level — with kids aged four to six — the tournament results aren’t very important and they don’t really keep track of them anyway.
Instead, Boulerice said the whole point is to give the kids, many of whom have just learned how to skate this year, a good chance to see how their practice drills translate into the on-ice competition. The improvements on a month-to-month basis are significant.
“It changes from game to game, there are improvements, especially at this beginner age,” she said. “They just pick it up so fast.”
There were nine teams in total at the tournament — three from Westlock, two from Morinville and one each from Swan Hills, Barrhead, Gibbons and Riviere Qui Barre.
Having Westlock’s 33 initiation-level players split into three teams instead of two has been really beneficial to the players in terms of getting more time on the ice, but also in keeping kids playing with others of a comparable skill level.
“This year with the Westlock team they have a beginner team, and intermediate team and a second-year team,” Boulerice said. “It works well, because then all the kids are with players of the same skill set.”
While the players and coaches involved did plenty of work on the ice, there were countless parents and local businesses which stepped up to handle all the work behind the scenes as well.
“There are many businesses in town, and parents, who all donated and supported the tournament,” she said. “It was actually a free tournament for players; we didn’t actually charge a tournament fee.”
She added it wouldn’t have been possible without the great team effort that the parent volunteers put in, as well.
