OUTLOOK - After an informational meeting was held back on February 9 at the Jim Kook Rec Plex exploring the possibility of Outlook establishing an Under-22 female hockey team, it has now been officially announced that a team has been given the green light in the riverside community.
The Hockey Saskatchewan Board of Directors revealed that five teams have been selected to participate in the inaugural season of a new Junior hockey league for female players in the province.
The new Under-22 (U22) league was announced in December 2022 and will be up and running for the 2023-24 season.
Since the beginning of the year, Hockey Saskatchewan's AAA/AA Task Team have worked on a process that was put in place to seek applications from communities, and after careful consideration, the five hosts have been selected.
The new provincial female junior league will consist of five teams coming from Outlook, Lumsden, Kindersley, Regina, and the Southwest (Swift Current/Gull Lake).
It's said that a distinct constitution and bylaws will govern the league, which will be run by the existing Executive of the Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League.
In a media release, Hockey Saskatchewan GM Kelly McClintock shared his confidence in each community being able to help female players hone their skills and better their game.
“We are thrilled to have these five clubs participate in the Provincial Female Junior Hockey League's inaugural season and we’re confident that these communities will provide a great environment for female players to develop and excel,” said McClintock. “We believe this league will provide more opportunities for female players to develop their skills and compete at a high level.”
It's expected that with the introduction of the new league, graduating Under-18 female players in the province will have more opportunities to continue their hockey careers at a high level and pursue their dreams of playing at the university level.
The Town of Outlook's chief administrative officer, Kevin Trew, co-led that informational meeting back in February surrounding the possibility of forming a team, and now that it's come to pass that Outlook will indeed have an Under-22 female team, he says it's now boots to the ground as far as bringing everything to fruition.
"We went through this whole application process, and we saw more opportunity for more use of the facility and bringing more people to town and helping with tourism, and so we wanted to go out and see if there were any champions of this community," said Trew. "It's been a lukewarm reception to the idea at first, but it's growing and there are a lot of people who want to champion this. We're really excited that this is going to be an opportunity for next year. We're just so pumped, and this is a really great opportunity for Outlook. We see this fitting in so well with our strategic plan and things we have laid out, and it all just comes together so perfectly."
It was at that February meeting where it was revealed that Outlook was already on the path towards making this vision become a reality, including a gathering of official letters of support that were received from Mayor Maureen Weiterman, as well as from Brennan Hall, the incoming general manager of the Delisle Chiefs Junior Hockey Club; Jean Jones, the administrator for the RM of Fertile Valley; and Carman Fowler, the administrator for the Village of Kenaston.
On top of that, letters of support had also been canvassed and pursued around the region, including the RM of Rudy, Village of Broderick, Village of Glenside, RM of Montrose, RM of Rosedale, Town of Davidson, RM of Loreburn, RM of Dundurn, Village of Elbow, Town of Hanley, RM of Willner, RM of McRaney, Village of Strongfield, Village of Conquest, Village of Macrorie, Village of Loreburn, and the RM of Coteau.
It seems as if all that extra legwork has paid off. Trew says that while the team is exploring sponsorship opportunities, he says that doing so may include some different avenues for potential funding, including going outside of Outlook and looking at the regional area or exploring funding that targets the fact that this is a young female team.
As far as the next steps to take, Trew says that while there isn't any set direction from Hockey Saskatchewan at this time, they're proceeding with setting meetings and looking at possibilities.
"We were given a couple of days notice that we were getting the team, and so we met for a meeting the other night," he said. "There's no real direction at this time that's been set by Hockey Saskatchewan as far as what to do. We know there are five teams, and that's all we know right now. In anticipation of this, and knowing shortly beforehand that we were going to be awarded a team, we actually started talking about forming a board and having our initial AGM, annual general meeting. We haven't set a date for one, but it's going to be very soon. We've set up an interim board with some people volunteering for the time being, and I'll admit, it's very Town-heavy as I'm on it, Councillor (Kevin) Grotheim is on it, Councillor (Sharon) Bruce is on it, and we've also got names like Steve Kook who's agreed to be on it. Dan Erlandson is probably going to sit on it as far as the interim period is concerned, and Ian Robertson may serve an integral role, as well. He's very excited, so that's awesome. So right now, we're really just starting out."
As well, an event set for later this month may help set the stage for what this future team could look like on the ice of the Jim Kook Rec Plex later this year.
"We actually have an opportunity to have a spring ID camp," said Trew. "It's on Tuesday, April 11 at the Jim Kook Rec Plex in town, and we're hoping to have anywhere from 40-60 players come to Outlook that day. Steve Kook is going to lead that day, along with Dan Erlandson. Our hope, and it's an aggressive one, is that we can identify maybe 10 players who we can sign for the team. We're excited about that, and it's a little bit of a fundraiser onto itself because there's a fee that we charge the players for participating. We have a budget, but the budget is very loosey-goosey because we don't know all the specific details."
As this story continues to unfold and the community of Outlook looks to jump on the opportunity in front of them, stay tuned to The Outlook to watch it all play out.
