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Eight additional teams have been added to accommodate the growth of Saskatoon minor hockey, meaning 305 total teams will compete across the various age groups.
Of that total, 253 teams are based in Saskatoon and another 56 teams hail from Martensville, Warman, Clavet and Delisle.
Kelly Boes, executive director of the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association (SMHA), said he’s not really sure what sparked the sudden bump in minor hockey.
“The growth is not in one particular area; every age group has seen some small growth. We are a couple teams up in U7 and a couple teams up in U9, three teams up in U11, (and) a couple in U13,” said Boes.
“We’re down a couple in U15, which we were expecting … then we’re up a team in U18, which is unheard of.”
Boes said he believes some older kids have decided to come back to play their final year of minor hockey.
But with more teams comes a higher demand for ice time, and Boes said this year will be tough.
“Merlis Belsher Place, where we have a fair amount of ice, we’re losing a portion of it in December for a world curling tournament,” said Boes. “Then the national women’s U-Sport hockey championship in mid March, so it’ll be a challenge through there.”
Boes said the SMHA is looking forward to a couple of new ice surfaces coming to the area in the next couple of years.
“Martensville, next season, will have a new sheet of ice and hopefully Warman the year after,” said Boes. “We’re hopeful we’ll see another sheet of ice at some point in the near future here in the city.”
He said the association was also pleased to see an increase in officials signing up over the last couple of seasons.
“Last year we had really good numbers; we were in the 350-official range,” said Boes.
While he said it’s a bit too soon to say how many officials will be on the ice this season, Boes said he feels like the league will be alright in that department.
He said the SMHA hopes to continue to see this type of growth on both sides of the game, and Boes gave a lot of credit to the coaches for making players want to come back and play another year.
