ESTEVAN - It's been another great season for the Estevan Minor Hockey Association (EMHA).
League president Stephen Truman said there are more than three dozen teams registered this year, which is a slight increase from previous years thanks to the interest in the EMHA's female programs. The number of male teams has been fairly consistent. Registration numbers are also up a little bit this year, Truman said.
He believes the athletes have been having a lot of fun.
"Our young kids are on the ice a lot, mostly three times a week for the U7s and U9s, and our older divisions are getting their couple of practices and games in every week," said Truman.
Coaches and volunteers have stepped up once again this year, but Truman said they can always have more people helping out.
"Our volunteers keep our tournaments going and help out throughout the season. I think Estevan's become known for hosting some good tournaments. There's never a shortage of teams wanting to attend our tournaments, and that's all based on our volunteers putting on a good show every time we have an event planned."
The EMHA embarked on a sponsorship initiative last season in which it sold the naming rights to each team in the U9 division. The initiative continued this year, selling the names for house league teams in other divisions.
"We can't thank our business community enough and corporate community. They stepped up to the plate," said Truman. "I think they're excited based on how it went with the U9s last year, and … the kids look great. All new threads throughout the association."
The EMHA doesn't plan on selling naming rights for age-representative teams.
The U11 tournament is wrapping up Feb. 9, but a couple of tournaments are still on the EMHA schedule for this season. The U11 house tournament wrapped up on Feb. 9, the U7 tournament in early March will attract 24 teams, and female carded tournaments will wrap up the season at the end of March.
"We'll be cheering all of our teams on down the stretch, hoping we get as many teams into the playoffs as we can, and keeping everybody rolling and ending on a high note," said Truman.
It means the rinks will be busy over the next few weeks of the season.
