By / Darren Bayrack
While there are still details to be hammered out, the bottom line is that approximately 1,300 minor hockey players in Calgary will have different home dressing rooms this fall.
The shift represents about 10 per cent of the total enrollment and was approved April 30 by a vote of 45-9 by member delegates of Calgary’s community associations.
“There are still a few i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed,” explained Hockey Calgary President Perry Cavanagh.
Key to the proposal is the amalgamation of the Blackfoot and Seven Clubs associations and also combining Glenlake with Elbow Park.
The Westwood Hockey Association publicly opposed the new boundaries that shift Dalhousie players and five rec teams to its three arenas.
“We are currently in discussions with Hockey Calgary on how to resolve that issue,” said Glen Scott, president of Westwood. “You have got community-owned rinks that are owned and controlled by those communities and then you’ve got communities outside of those communities that would like more access to ice.”
The stated goal of the boundary review committee is “to create an environment where every player in the City of Calgary has an equitable opportunity to develop their skills.” Players will be moved to balance out ice times and the level of competition between hockey associations.
Scott is optimistic that Westwood and Hockey Calgary can find some common ground before registration begins in June for next season, but he admits there are hurdles to overcome. “The communities with the rinks are happy to help out to a certain degree, it’s just finding the right mechanism for that,” he said. “We think if we absorbed all the Dalhousie kids that our ice time would be diluted for our current kids, so that’s one of the issues we are discussing.”
Hockey Calgary conducted the boundary review – the first such citywide study in 15 years – on behalf of community associations and will continue to work with stakeholders to find the right balance.
“We are working with the concerns of those groups in the spirit of finding some middle ground so that we can make sure that everyone’s needs are addressed,” said Cavanagh.
Other major changes approved in the review include: the Properties Sports Association absorbs what was the old NASA portion of the McKnight Hockey Association; McKnight Hockey expands northward to incorporate the communities of MacEwan Glen, Sandstone Valley, Country Hills and Harvest Hills from Simons Valley Hockey; Crowchild Hockey gains Ranchlands and five girls teams; Crowfoot Hockey adds Citadel; Bow River Hockey gains the community of Cougar Ridge; Lake Bonavista Hockey gains the communities of Deer Ridge, Deer Run, Diamond Cove and Queensland; Bow Valley Hockey gains the community of Cranston.
For complete details on the minor hockey boundary review visit www.hockeycalgary.com |