By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
A celebration of minor hockey will take place at the Mariners Centre on Saturday, Jan. 28 as Minor Hockey Day is celebrated.
The event is an annual recognition of minor hockey and is held as way to show appreciation to all of the players, coaches, volunteers and families who contribute to, and participate in, minor hockey.
As usually, Saturday will be a busy day at the rink, starting from the time the Timbits step onto the ice at 7:20 a.m. to bantam A and bantam AA league games around the supper hour that night. Sandwiched in between this will be novice house games, atom house games, bantam house games and other games for the Novice Advance, bantam girls, atom A, peewee A and atom AAA teams.
During the day there will be breakfast, refreshments and snacks served, players will have their names announced as they step onto the ice and there will be prizes.
Aside from a recognition of minor hockey, Hockey Nova Scotia has also declared Jan. 28 to be Coaches Appreciation Day.
Sonya Breton, the president of the Yarmouth County Minor Hockey Association, says the association has over 500 players registered in it. Therefore the number of people who come through the doors of the Mariners Centre in a given week – players, coaches, team managers, families and other volunteers, including those who serve on the board – is quite remarkable.
In recent years the association has put a greater push on development, both for players and coaches. Aside from the development that takes place during weekly team practices, the association, partnering with the Yarmouth Junior A Mariners, has been holding weekly Monday development sessions for players focusing on such things as forward skills, defence skills, goalie skills and power skating. More emphasis on coaching development is also in the works.
“We’re hoping to develop a library where coaches can go and take things to help them with drills and for working on specific skills,” says Breton. “We recognize that’s probably something that we don’t necessarily support in the way that we should, sometimes we forget that those are volunteers and we need to support them.”
The association is also pleased with the advances that have been made in female hockey. This year is the first year for a bantam girls rep team. There is an all girls team at the atom house level and next year Breton says the association is hoping to have a female peewee rep team.
