Rural Hockey

Well, yesterday was the first tournament of the rural hockey season.  Students from 3 or 4 rural schools participate in an unofficial league that allows the kids that don't or can't play organized hockey in town to be on a team and play in meaningful games.  The arenas are largely outdoors (though one of the communities has a new $5 million dollar arena with artificial ice).  The games are played in a series of one day tournaments and there are no standings kept.  At the end of the season (usually the middle of March) there is a rural hockey tournament in Fort St. John where the kids get medals, ribbons, etc.  The RCMP used to sponsor and organize the tournament, but pulled out before last year's tournament.  As an aside, with the terrible reputation the RCMP has in BC right now, it really boggles the mind that the cops would give up such a good PR opportunity.  Anyway, the regional district and parents have stepped in to provide funding and organization.

I coach in the "C" division, which is for kids ages 5-9.  Yesterday's tournament was supposed to be held outdoors in Prespatou, but do to the warm weather the moved it into the new arena in the nearby community of Buick Creek.  Both of these communities are about an hour out of town, so it is a bit of a time commitment for me this year, but there was nobody else to do it and the kids have a real blast.  The last two years, I lived and worked in Prespatou, so the tournaments were all pretty close.

While the kids had a great time playing, we did not meet with much success.  We managed to score only 2 goals in two games and had about 20 or so scored against us.  The problem is a lack of skills and a lack of practice time.  We have only had one practice this year. Due to extremely cold temperatures, not having ice in the rink until the end of December and too much snow canceling buses, practice time has been hard to come by.  Now the weather has turned warm and the ice may be no good to practice on tomorrow.

Hopefully, we can get the kids into at least a competitive situation before the final tournament, so they can have a bit more fun and have something to look forward to next year.