Sixty-two junior skaters hit the ice Sept. 26 for the start of the new Barrhead Fun Hockey season.
Fun Hockey coordinator Shawn Stephani said although numbers were down by about 40 kids, he expects more registrants in the coming weeks.
“We’re expecting similar numbers again and the turnout so far has just been fantastic,” Stephani said, noting that the practice was the first time ice has been available for the event during the week.
“The purpose is to get kids involved and to let them have a little bit of fun with the sport,” he said, noting children as young as five and as old as 17 can participate.
“We’ll be running this until the first week of March. I think it’s a pretty good stretch of time. We’ll probably have six or seven teams and they’ll all get to play in a tournament as well.”
Stephani said Barrhead teams will face off against their counterparts from Sangudo, Mayerthorpe, Westlock, Fort Assiniboine, Rich Valley and Linaria.
“We’ll be making the decision of who plays on which team by mid-October and hopefully we’ll have the teams finalized by the end of the month,” he said, adding it only costs $200 for the whole year.
“That’s to cover ice times. Our referees are all volunteers, whether they are parents or siblings of players, and that’s a huge win for us because it cuts down on our expenses,” he said, adding there aren’t any other expenses involved.
Barrhead’s fun hockey program is part of FunTeam Alberta, an alternative to organized sports founded by former Edmonton Oiler Randy Greg.
For more information, refer to the ad that ran in the Sept. 19 edition of the Barrhead Leader.