Hat Minor Hockey growing the game for girls and boys
By Ryan McCracken on September 13, 2018.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com @MHNMcCracken Lace up those skates, hockey season is here. Medicine Hat Minor Hockey squads start getting pre-season action underway at tournaments across the province this weekend, and association general manager Kris Schultz says he’s excited to watch another year of growth and development unfold on the ice. “We feel really confident and really happy with the type of programs we’ve brought in that have helped us grow the game,” he said. “We’re looking forward to getting started.” There’s no better benchmark for the strides MHMA has been making over the past few years than the rise in girls hockey registration. Schultz says more than 100 girls will be on the ice playing hockey this season, doubling their numbers from just three years ago. “We have Rocky Mountain Female League teams in peewee and atom, so two teams that will travel and play in other centres around the province, and then we still have teams in Timbit 2 and novice. The numbers below bantam are really, really strong,” said Schultz. “We have two all girls teams that are going to be playing in our city leagues out of Irvine this year, so they’ve grown the game out there as well which is great for our zone.” Schultz added the association is aiming to bring a higher level of girls hockey back to Medicine Hat as well, by putting in a bid to assume control of the Southern Alberta bantam and midget elite franchises. “They’ve been handled and ran out of Lethbridge for the last three years and they’re up for bid again from Hockey Alberta. We’re currently working with a committee to have our bid package ready to present on Oct. 1,”he said. “We’re excited about that opportunity.” The hockey itself has seen a productive shift as well. Local coaches have been working alongside Coach’s Edge in the classroom and on the ice to improve their side of the game over the past four years, while players have been thriving in areas such as peewee AA hockey — which clinched the provincial title last season. “I think having our peewee AAs develop a winning culture there —with two of the last three years being in provincials and winning it last year — it starts just developing a whole new culture of kids who know what it takes to win,”he said. “Creating that competitive environment for these kids to succeed in, which has been fun for us to develop over the past four years.” That peewee squad was also a launching pad for players like Caleb Wyrostok — who went on to get drafted by the Swift Current Broncos after an impressive season with the South East Athletic Club Tigers bantam AAA squad last year. While Wyrostok was the only member of the bantams to hear his name called at the draft, Schultz says many others are still forging a path to a higher level of hockey — including Hayden Prosofsky, who attended WHL camp with the Tigers. “We probably had five or six other kids from the team who didn’t get drafted go on to attend junior camps,” he said. 14
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