The City of Humboldt is restarting a recreational hockey program for youth this winter.
The Kids' Recreational Hockey program is being revamped in response to a need in the community.
"While Humboldt Minor Hockey does an amazing job opening doors for kids of all ages to learn the game of hockey and play competitively, there remains a portion of kids who are eager to get on the ice and play hockey once a week but are not interested, or able to, commit to the demands of playing organized hockey," noted Michael Ulriksen, the contracted organizer of the program.
This program will allow the opportunity for those kids to suit up and step on the ice once a week throughout the entire winter, Ulriksen added.
Though the City has undertaken the task of restarting this program, they have the hope that an organization in the community will step forward to run it in subsequent years, Ulriksen added.
The focus of this hockey program is not on skill development, but more to provide an opportunity for participation in physical activity that was not previously made available to kids not enrolled in minor hockey.
Some skills will be taught likely at the start of each session, Ulriksen said, then the kids will do some scrimmaging and maybe a shootout to finish things off.
At least, that's how he sees things working right now.
"At the end of the day, the participants themselves will likely dictate the make-up of the program," he said. " In essence, this program is founded on fun, friendship and physical activity, and if the participants are able to develop their hockey skills in the process, that will be an added bonus."
For now, the program looks like this: two sessions per week - one on Sundays from 6:45 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. for kids aged 5 to 11, and one on Mondays from 9:15 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. for kids aged 12 to 17 - at the Elgar Petersen Arena in the Humboldt Uniplex.
"Ideally we would like to introduce more sessions to narrow the age gaps, as these are pretty significant age groups, but as we are restricted to the current amount of ice time and have no way of predicting the mix of participants, we are going to go ahead with two groups," Ulriksen stated.
Any potential issues from the large age groups they will address as they arise, he added.
The times themselves are late, Ulriksen admitted, and are a concern for him.
But those times are simply a result of demand for ice time at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
"There was a shuffle in ice time allotments this year and someone had to give up ice time for us to squeeze this program in," said Ulriksen. "It will certainly be a hurdle we will need to try to overcome and once we see how the year plays out, perhaps earlier times will become available and a shift can be made. For now... we will deal with the headaches as they inevitably arise."
Hockey pucks and jerseys will be supplied for use and to be left at the Uniplex after each session, but participants are expected to be fully clothed with their own hockey equipment.
The cost for participating in the rec hockey program will be $100 per participant.
"We are guaranteeing 20 sessions per group, so if all sessions are attended that works out to only five dollars per session, which is very reasonable," Ulriksen believes.
As organizers are expecting to surpass that number, therefore the price per session improves from that point on.
In order to get this program going, a minimum of 10 participants per age group are needed.
But there is also a cap at 20 participants per session, so the numbers needed to run this program are fairly specific.
"We want to give the participants sufficient time on the ice, so that is the reason for capping participants for this year," Ulriksen said.
The more demand there is for the program, the more justification there will be to ask for more ice time next season, he added.
The program is not actively looking for sponsors this year, but if there is anyone wanting to come on board, the City is willing to partner with them.
The program does have some needs to address before it starts up for the season - needs the community can help with.
For instance, Ulriksen noted, they currently have one set of younger-age goalie equipment but are likely in need of another set or to find participants to play goal.
They are also potentially looking to purchase pinnies or practice jerseys of some sort for the group, as if they get the numbers they hope for, they might run out of the jerseys they currently have.
The program also needs some people willing to spend some time on the ice.
"We are looking for volunteers to help supervise and lead some basic skills at the start of each session," said Ulriksen. "Ideally we are hoping for three to commit per age group, so that we can guarantee we have one volunteer out for each session."
They're not looking for hockey coaches, per se, he said, but individuals who want to work with kids and be on the ice once or twice a week.
"We just need individuals who can run some simple warm-up drills and be there to supervise," Ulriksen said.
Parents of the participants are welcome, he added, as are any others in the community who wish to volunteer.
For more information, call the Community and Leisure Services Department.
The program will be having a sign up table at the City Wide Fall Registration on Sept. 4.
