St. Walburg will be the centre of the Saskatchewan hockey universe for one weekend in January.
The town will host the seventh annual 2014 SaskEnergy Hockey Weekend Jan. 17-19.
"The event has been a tremendous success for the past six years, and we certainly hope to see that same success and more this year," said Kelly McClintock, general manager of the Saskatchewan Hockey Association in a press release. "We are extremely excited to provide all minor hockey associations across the province an opportunity to focus on the game and raise funds for their respective arenas."
Host communities have raised over $310,000 over the past six years. Trevor Novak, president of the St. Walburg Minor Hockey Association, said raising money is a big part of the weekend.
"It's kind of what the weekend's about," said Novak. "Not only to promote and celebrate hockey, but as well as raise funds for your arena to do upgrades.
The St. Walburg Arena has started to install new lights, insulation on the roof and netting over the ice surface. Novak said they are looking into replacing the boards, but a more pressing matter has developed.
"We just found out the chiller for our artificial ice plant is on its last legs. A lot of money raised this weekend will probably be going to just keeping our artificial ice plant going."
The events begin Friday night with the St. Walburg minor hockey community banquet featuring guest speaker Dave "Tiger" Williams. The Weyburn-native played in 962 NHL games, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Hartford Whalers. He recorded 513 points and 3,966 penalty minutes during his NHL career.
Saturday starts with the Novice Eagles facing off against the Paradise Hill Hawks at 9 a.m. Next, the Initiation Eagles play the Battleford Blackhawks at 11 a.m. In the afternoon, the Battleford Sharks and the Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats meet at 1 p.m. in Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA League play. Next, the Beardy's Blackhawks face off against the Battlefords Stars at 4 p.m. in Saskatchewan Midget AAA action. The last game sees the Notre Dame Hounds host the Battlefords North Stars beginning at 7:30 p.m.
"With these higher calibre games, it's something that people in our community don't see unless they venture outside to watch them," said Novak. "It's nice to have them here."
Also appearing Saturday is the Stanley Cup, making the trip from nearby Lloydminster's Hockey Day in Canada. It will make an appearance at the St. Walburg Arena at 5:30 p.m.
"We were kind of disheartened at first," said Novak of sharing the weekend with Hockey Day in Canada. "We spun it around in our favour. We managed to secure the Stanley Cup."
The weekend concludes with the NSRHL All-Stars facing off against the Rosetown AAA Redwings. The Redwings are three-time defending Saskatchewan Valley Hockey League champions and two-time defending AAA provincial champions.
Novak expects it to be a great weekend for St. Walburg.
"I hope to see people come out and watch a lot of good hockey and have fun doing it."
