Sarah Mills: The magic of the May Long Weekend
Sarah Mills is looking forward to the May Long Weekend, and says the holiday holds the promise of the summer ahead, even...
Hockey rinks are often the central hub for many small towns in Saskatchewan.
Friday night in the Pense Memorial Rink was no exception.
After being stranded in a winter storm, the rink opened its doors to nearly 60 U-15 girls hockey players and their parents.
Owen Meadows is a volunteer on the rink board. He said the community stepped up.
“We were advised by the RCMP and the Highway Hotline that the roads were closed,” he explained. “We didn’t want anyone driving or getting hurt, so we opened up the community.”
Read more:
- ‘Hub of the community:’ New Ituna arena shines as pride and joy of the town
- Sask. Gov. investing $1.4 million into hockey and curling rinks
- Riders to lace up skates for Winter Classic charity hockey game in Saskatoon
Around 60 people stayed at Pense Memorial Rink on Friday night after they were stranded by a winter sorm. (Owen Meadows/Submitted)
Pense was hosting the athletes — from various communities in southern Saskatchewan — for a tryout with Sask First Hockey.
He said around 70 people stayed in town with people who opened their homes, while the remaining 60 people stayed at the rink.
“We put a call out to the town on Facebook and we had just an overwhelming support of air mattresses, blankets, pillows,” Meadows said. “We got gym mats from the school next door.”
(980 CJME file photo)
The canteen, run by another volunteer at the rink, stayed open until nearly midnight to make sure everyone was fed.
“The canteen was great,” he said. “There were bags of food, popcorn, fruit, granola bars. All that stuff was donated, too.”
As the roads cleared up Saturday morning, people slowly filed out of the rink.
Meadows said this was just another normal day for the community of Pense. Everyone is quick to come together when needed.
“That’s what we tried conveying to these people last night that this couldn’t have happened in a better community,” he said.
“This is just typical small-town Saskatchewan stuff.”
He said the community spent most of the morning pushing out vehicles and clearing the roads to make things safe for travellers.
Meadows said the rink couldn’t have helped without the community’s support.
The trophy case inside Pense Memorial Rink. (Libby Giesbrecht/980 CJME)
Read more:
