WEYBURN - Weyburn’s city council has an opportunity to help ensure that one of the unique sports teams in the city can stay here and not have to shut down or be moved.
They heard an impassioned plea from Ryan Birnie of the Weyburn AAA U18 Gold Wings, as they are in need of some serious financial assistance as well as of professional coaching and training expertise in order to get the team back on track as a healthy midget girls hockey team.
The team was established in 2006, with the late Len Williams and his wife Jacquie involved in establishing a Midget AAA-level girls team that competes in the provincial Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League.
They did have some success, winning the national Esso Cup championship in 2014, and hosting the Esso Cup here in Weyburn two years later.
The record since that time has admittedly not been a very good one, as despite the hard-working talented young women who’ve played, the Gold Wings have only had four wins in the last 135 games since 2016.
The governing body of amateur hockey, Sask Hockey, has raised concerns about this and are pushing for the team to make significant changes, including getting a top-notch coach and providing high-level training opportunities for the players.
This costs money, of course, and the team has been moving in that direction, hiring Chandy Kaip as an experienced championship-winning coach at the university level, and bringing in skills trainers and goalie coaches.
Thus, the team has come up with the idea to sell advertising in Crescent Point Place along the bottom four or five inches of the plexiglas. The City’s Leisure Services committee did not support this, citing their agreement with the Red Wings to have primary advertising in the rink, and suggested instead putting ad signs on the back of benches along walking trails.
As the Gold Wings need a lot more cash than those signs could ever provide, it would be better if the City was more reasonable about allowing them to explore this fundraising idea – particularly as the Red Wings provided unequivocal support of the Gold Wings. The City cannot use that as a reason not to support this proposal, as the Red Wings also want to see the girls team remain here in Weyburn.
In response to Birnie’s plea, Coun. Dick Michel said he was looking for the Gold Wings to be willing to compromise, but didn’t explain what that means. The team likely would be willing to compromise some – if the City is willing to compromise also. There is a real need for the team to make changes, and they are on the road to doing that, but financial support is needed to make those changes. Let’s hope the City’s idea of compromise doesn’t end up in Weyburn losing this high-level girls team.
