By K.A. Pendergrast
Friday, Jan.17 helped kick off the Clearwater Hockey Days/Winterfest at the North Thompson Sportsplex with a tournament hosted by the Novice Icehawks.
The Sportsplex had a super busy weekend also with a few extra Winterfest events going on as well, such as the Family Skating sponsored by the Dutch Lake Community Centre (DLCC) with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Goofy joining the families on the ice and free hot chocolate and hot dogs. Also going on besides regular games was a curling social on Jan. 18 and a skating exhibition on Jan. 19. This was on top of the regular activities brought on with adult drop-in, ladies drop-in and over-50 hockey as well as pre-novice practices.
The novice tournament involved two Clearwater teams and Kamloops brought enough for four teams, the Sharks 1 and 2 and the Warriors 1 and 2. Williams Lake brought one team and Valemount brought two. It also included a team from Logan Lake. Those Novice players sure bring their enthusiasm and spirit of hockey to the ice.
The games could not be score kept like older players’ games since there are two games going on at once. However, that sure did not slow down the fans from cheering on their teams. The stands were packed.
This week’s featured player is #25 A.J. Cox from the Clearwater Novice Icehawks. A.J. is seven years old and is a strong player and has been skating for many years already. He is lucky enough to have a backyard rink that his dad made for him and is out there practicing often. His favourite NHL team is the Calgary Flames and, of course, the player that used to have all his cheering was Jerome Iginla.
Sunday saw the action begin again and carry on throughout the day with the final games finishing up around 3 p.m., just in time to watch the figure skating exhibition. Some awesome skills brought out for the fans with the skaters demonstrating just what all that hard work and practicing can do for you. Following this, there was family skating again sponsored by DLCC and ladies drop-in and adult drop-in hockey.
There are more activities for Clearwater Hockey Days and Winterfest out there continuing through the week and next weekend. Schedules can be seen in last week’s paper, our website (clearwatertimes.com) or at the District office.
