Salmon Arm Minor Hockey Association administration believe the upcoming adjustment to age-specific division names will be an easy one.
On Monday, Nov. 18, Hockey Canada issued a release to all minor leagues announcing the names of minor hockey divisions would be changing for the 2020/21 season. The statement read the change aligns with the Hockey Canada brand in being inclusive for all.
Junior and Senior teams are not affected by the change.
“We believe everyone should feel welcome in the game and in our ongoing effort to make hockey more inclusive, the names of our age divisions will change,” said Michael Brind’Amour, chair of Hockey Canada Board of directors.
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Roy Sakaki, administrator for the Salmon Arm Minor Hockey Association, believes that while some will miss the names, it is overall a good change.
“For a guy like me and a lot of people who have been in the system for a while, it is sort of sad to see the names such as PeeWee, Bantam, Midgets and Atom leave us because those names have been synonymous throughout Canada,” Sakaki said.
Sakaki would go on to say the changeover would not be a difficult one and he has not heard any complaints from parents.
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