The leaves are falling off the trees and the weather is cooling down, but in the Nakusp Arena things are heating up with hockey season in full swing. With a promising start to the season, Nakusp Minor hockey is really excited about the great turn out of kids this year.
There are three teams to come out and cheer for, starting with the Bantam House team, the oldest of the teams, with 11 players coached by Pat McCrory, Ryan Bateman and Shea Weighill and with team manager Carla Trenholm.
They have played three games so far, two in Beaver Valley and one home game against Castlegar. A home tournament is set for November 22-24 and you can come out and support them at their next home game Nov. 9 at 11 a.m. Carla has said that they have a new player who has never played hockey before who is improving everyday thanks to the hard work and dedication of our coaches.
The Atoms team has 12 players, four of them being brand new to hockey, plus two affiliate players from the Senior Novice team. Coached by Mike Smith with assistant coach’s Wayne Hascarl and Mitch Hascarl, Trainer Shawn Coates and team managers Andrea Coates and Kristy Robins. The atoms have played four games with a 4-4 tie in Boundary. You can catch up with the Atoms for their home games Nov. 9 at 5:15 p.m., Nov. 10 at 12:15 p.m. and December 8 at 11 a.m. The home tournament will be January 24-26, 2014.
The youngest Team of the bunch would be the Novices. With both a senior team of 12 players and a junior team of 16 players, the ice is full of laughs, learning and a few falls. They are coached by Ryan Fehler and assisted by Hans Suhr, Jarrod Teindl, Mark Macaulay, Paul Tithecott and Shea Weighill with Susan Fehler as team manager. The seniors are set to play a game in Revelstoke in late November, and a Novice tournament will be in Nakusp in December. Hope everyone can come out to support the local teams!
With all the talent in town there are also a few Nakusp kids playing out of town this year. Grayson Reitmeier is playing Junior A hockey in Trail, B.C. for the Smoke Eaters.
Colton Dachwitz is playing his second year for the Junior B Rutland Chiefs, who are first in their division at the moment and third overall in the K.I.J.H.L.
Ashlee Herridge and Kira Streliev are playing for the Wildcats, a B.C. Major Midget female Rep team based out of Nelson, with players from the east and west Kootenays.
Logan Hascarl, AJ Hughes and Zac Friedenberger are all playing T3 Midget Rep hockey out of Nelson.
Colby Nishida, Brody Herridge and Jackson Herridge are playing T3 Bantam Rep hockey out of Nelson.
Hailey Herridge, Reese McCrory and Raven Atherton are all playing on the West Kootenay Female Bantam “Wildcats” rep team based out of Castlegar.
Adam Volansky, Devon Coates and Wyatt Petterson are all playing T3 Peewee Rep out of Castlegar.
To the parents of hockey kids, good on you for the commitment of traveling, the volunteering and dedication to your children.
