By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
No matter if teams are on the winning or losing end of their games, a celebration of minor hockey will be held at the Mariners Centre on Jan. 29 and 30 as the Yarmouth County Minor Hockey Association holds its annual minor hockey weekend.
“It’s a big wheel that has to be turned, and a lot of people turn it,” says association president Jeremy Kini.
Minor hockey weekend is an annual tradition for the association.
“It’s to celebrate hockey,” says Kini. “We play games and there are awards handed out to the kids for participation.”
But the weekend is about more than just the players on the ice. It’s also about the volunteers, which includes coaches, parents, board members and others. The numbers add up faster than the ones the scoreboard. While there are around 530 hockey players registered in the Yarmouth association, Kini estimates there are hundreds of volunteers that help out during the hockey season.
Aside from the games that will be played all day Saturday and Sunday during the weekend, another component to minor hockey weekend is the Saturday evening, Jan. 29, junior A Mariners game. Minor hockey players who wear their team jerseys get into the game for free. And between periods the completion of the house league skills competition will be held.
The Mariners have supported the minor hockey association in other ways too this season. For instance the team holds weekly development sessions for players of all divisions on Mondays. Kini says it’s a partnership that has worked well.
Another area worthy of note in this year’s minor hockey season in the increased interest in girls’ hockey. A weekly Monday session for novice and atom players consistently attracts around 30 players, some of whom had never tried hockey prior to this season but are eager to stay in the sport. There are plans to have an all-female atom team next year. This season an all-female peewee team was introduced.
“Our girls’ program has really taken off,” says Kini.
Another interesting aspect to minor hockey, Kini says, is how players, families, board members and other volunteers remain interested in the minor hockey movement, long after their association with the sport ends. Kini says past board members are always interested in new initiatives, and former players of the system are coming back at the coaching level.
Kini says when you add all of these things up, there is much reason for celebration.
“Yes coaches are going to get angry because calls didn’t go their way. Yes a kid is going to be upset because he missed the net by a couple of inches. A goalie is going to get mad because he missed one that he should have had, that’s par for the course,” says Kini. “But it’s about celebrating the game and just saying thank you to everybody.”
Meanwhile, other upcoming major events are also on the horizon for the minor hockey association. Yarmouth has been selected as the host community for peewee AAA provincials, to be held at the Mariners Centre March 10-13.
And on April 9, Yarmouth will host the day of champions tournament for divisions that make up the Western Nova Minor Hockey League. This is the first season for this new league, which represents rep teams at the A and B levels.