BY IAN THORPE
Hockey season is now in full swing, with leagues at all levels up and running.
It’s early days yet, but so far the rebuilding Vancouver Canucks are holding their own in the NHL and my Toronto Maple Leafs are giving cause for cautious optimism.
On the local scene, the Nanaimo Clippers under coach Darren Naylor are middle of the pack in the Island Division of the B.C. Hockey League. In the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, coach Curtis Toneff has the Nanaimo Buccaneers sitting in second place in the North Division. And the new kids in town, the Vancouver Island University Mariners guided by coach Steve Paul, are playing entertaining hockey in the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League.
Meanwhile, local minor hockey teams are now nearly two months into a season that runs through until March. The mission statement of the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association is “to promote sportsmanship, fair competition, development and safety for minor hockey players of all skill levels.”
Office administrator Vicky Long reports that registration this season currently sits at 773 players between the ages of five and twenty. Although the season is well underway, new player registrations are still being accepted.
Heading the executive board of NMHA this year is returning president Brad Knight, assisted by secretary/treasurer and administrative director Sandie Landa. Dave van Deventer is second vice-president and also in charge of risk and safety. Cathy Coulson and Vicky Long are ice coordinators, Cody Gessner is referee in chief, Adam Bowman is equipment manager and Heath Dennison is development coordinator.
The youngest age group in minor hockey is the initiation H1 and H2 division, involving a total of seven teams at the 5-6 year-old level looked after by NMHA director Chris Lawson. Amanda Rauh is the director in charge of the eight teams of H3 and H4 players 7-8 years old. The teams in the initiation divisions play games cross-ice to give players more of a chance to touch the puck on a smaller ice surface.
Moving to full ice, the atom recreational division consists of six teams of 9-10 year-olds, with Heather Bailey the director in charge. Paul Kang heads up the peewee recreational group of five teams involving players aged 11-12. There are currently five bantam rec teams of 13-14 year-olds, overseen by Denise Mackinnon and seven teams of recreational midget teams of 15-17 year-olds under the direction of Yvette McKay.
For competitive rep teams, NMHA first vice-president Glenn Cook is the director in charge of two teams at the atom level, two at the peewee level, three at the bantam level and two at the midget age level. All of the recreational and competitive teams are co-ed. In addition, there is one peewee female competitive team. Siobhan Davies is the female director on the NMHA board.
A number of tournaments are planned during the coming season. Among those, Nanaimo will host a competitive bantam tier 2 and 3 tournament November 9-11 at Nanaimo Ice Centre, with Alison Prescesky the tournament chairwoman. A peewee tier 1 tournament will happen in January and March will feature an initiation jamboree as well as an atom recreational tournament.
For more information on Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association, contact the association office at 250-754-5010, or visit the website at: www.hockeynanaimo.com.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.