New board members were selected at the Battlefords Minor Hockey Association annual general meeting Wednesday night.
Jason Teniuk was named as the new president of the BMHA for a two-year term, taking over for Dean Dimmick. Teniuk, a corporal with the local RCMP detatchment, said he was originally running for the bantam director position. He said he will use his connections with the City to build bridges between the Battlefords and the BHMA.
"If you want a president that's going to favour people, take a bunch of crap and just give you a whole bunch of fluff all the way through, then I'm not the guy you want here," said Teniuk. "It's as simple as that. But if you want somebody who's going to get things done here, then I guess I'm the guy."
Helen Germann was given another two-year term as the association's secretary.
The age divisions also received new directors on one-year terms. Cindy Gerstenhofer was selected as the director of the novice division again. Mike Humenny, also the president of Battlefords Minor Football, was chosen as the director of the novice division. Barb Heidt was appointed as the director of the bantam divisor. Kelvin Colliar remained as the female hockey representative.
Directors for the atom, peewee and midget divisions were left vacant. The other vacant position on the board is the representative director, which is a two-year term.
Vice-president Darcy Woolfitt said the directorships will remain vacant for the time being. The board will look for volunteers to fill these positions. Once a name comes forward, it is subject to approval by the current board.
It was announced at the meeting that the Agriplex has also been closed for good to the BMHA. Dimmick said the boards have already been taken out of the building, which was closed by the City in August prior to the 2013-14 season. Losing the Agriplex cost the BMHA 36 hours a week of ice time.
The question of ice time was debated during the general discussion portion of the meeting as the association searches for ways to give the teams equal amounts of ice time. With 465 players on 39 teams throughout all ages, it is hard to find time for every team.
The BMHA board of directors invited Robin Langille of the parks and recreation department to the meeting, but he did not attend. There was also no one in attendance from town council to answer questions regarding the availability of ice time.
Another hurdle last year for the BMHA was the SHA terminating the Battlefords Female Hockey Association due to the ruling each community can have only one hockey association. The BMHA absorbed their program and will look to use it to increase the number of children playing hockey. Dimmick said there were 50 players registered this year, and the association aims to have 150 registered soon. Colliar suggested getting out to schools in order to attract more girls to play hockey.
