The Hope and District Minor Hockey Association is fielding single teams in all divisions from Atom up, said club registrar Melissa Weed, Tuesday.
“This is my fourth year as registrar and the numbers have stayed pretty consistent,” said the Agassiz resident, who figured there were slightly more players from Hope than from Agassiz-Harrison. All are classed as ‘C’ or house league teams.
“It’s nice to see a lot of younger kids coming out,” she added. “Hockey 1 and 2, combined, have 16 players and Hockey 3 and 4, combined, have 17. The Midgets have 20.”
The first home tournament is for the Midgets, on the November 16 weekend, with the Peewees following on the November 30 weekend and Atoms on December 14-16. After Christmas, the Bantams have theirs on the January 18 weekend. Hockey 2 and 3 follow with events starting February 1 and 22.
The Peewee Wildcats travelled to Mission for a tournament last weekend. I attended their second game, Friday and was impressed by the speed of captain Quinn Robinson on his end-to-end rushes — and by the skills and effort shown by three girls, Cassidy Case and Jaida Conway for Hope, and Hannah Wood for Mission.
Women’s hockey will be showcased in Hope March 29-31, when the town hosts the South Coast Women’s Hockey provincials. There will be six teams of high calibre female hockey players, following a 26-game season in the 9-team “South Coast” league that now includes Kamloops and Prince George.
The Fraser Valley Jets are the defending champs from last season and are currently tied with the Kamloops Vibe for top spot, with matching 5-and-1 records. Jets captain, Amanda Christie, lives in Agassiz. More on this tournament, closer to the date.
In other hockey news, Hope resident and former Hope Minor Hockey goalie, Dawson Pelletier is training with the Chilliwack Chiefs as an affiliate, giving them a backup goalie while Daniel Chenard is recovering from hip surgery.
The affiliation agreement allows Pelletier to still play for the Major Midget Thunderbirds, which he helped to a BC championship last year. If the T-Birds earn a berth to the prestigious Mac’s Midget AAA Tournament in Calgary, Pelletier would be authorized to play, while only affilliated with the Chiefs.
In order to make the mid-day Chiefs practices, Pelletier is billeting in Chilliwack and doing his grade 12 studies in the morning at Sardis Secondary, said Pelletier’s dad, Brad.
More on this story in the coming weeks.
