Ryan Hoffman started up and coached a spring hockey team recently, of kids born in 2005 (6-7 years old). They practiced for four weekends at the Gallagher Centre and wrapped up the season at the end of April with a tournament in Calgary that weekend, says Hoffman.
They advanced to the finals, he added.
"The team was made up of kids primarily from the Yorkton region," explains Hoffman. The team name was 'Source '05s". Source Embroidery was the team sponsor.
"This is a team that was started this spring, but will continue to operate each spring, giving kids that are interested, an extended hockey season."
It was a great weekend and experience for the kids," he adds.
"The kids are pretty ambitious."
Hoffman said he started up the program to give his older boys a place to play hockey long after the minor hockey season is done.
Practicing for a month got them ready to play in the Alberta Challenge Cup, a tournament so big they needed several ice surfaces to hold it all, not to mention the two biggest cities in the province.
"There were 600 games held over three days," says coach Hoffman.
They were played in Edmonton and Calgary. The Source 05 games were played in Airdrie, he said.
He brought 15 kids with him, including goaltender Eli Shannon, a Yorkton product.
Other players represented Moosomin, Regina and Esterhazy, Hoffman explains.
He said the competition level they faced out west was pretty good.
"It tends to be a little more competitive than hockey season." Source 05 played in six games, winning four.
"It's a big difference from what they're used to. We had to work more on team play. They had to learn to use each other.
He also added that part of the reason for putting the Source 05 team together is that the talent pool in Yorkton for this age group seems to be quite high, says Hoffman, who is involved with the Initiation Program within the Yorkton Minor Hockey Association.
"One of the reasons (for this team)," says Hoffman, "seems to be, from a talent perspective, it's really strong."
Playing on the team were Parker Dunn, Grady Hoffman, Jaxon Sperling, Vinay Junek, Ashtyn Shields, Marshall Light, Matthew Ronn, Keaton Ireland, Jye Zawatsky, Evan Pinel, Jeffrey Stewart, Nikolas Gordon, Michael Malinowski, Tomas Hauber. In net was Eli Shannon.
