Getting more girls and women involved in hockey is an ongoing process but it's one that seems to be working.
The Yk Minor Hockey Association did its part on Monday to keep getting more females in on the fun as it hosted Esso Fun Days at the Multiplex on Monday.
James McCarthy/NNSL photo
The idea behind the initiative is to introduce the sport to females for the first time in a fun fashion.
Liz West, the association's director of female programs, said there was a good turnout for the day's events, which included young and not-so-young participants.
“We had 18 participants in total and that includes the adults who signed up,” she said.
She said the oldest participant was 44 years old, a mother who wanted to see what hockey was all about.
“This is how my daughter got started in hockey,” she added. “It's about getting the girls out in full gear and seeing what it's like.”
Those who were out for the first time took part in a skills session designed to show the absolute basics of the game with plenty of games thrown in for good measure. The on-ice instruction was led by coaches Rob Carey, Tehnille Gard, Karlee McKay and Bailey Habscheid with some help from the DT Electric senior girls team.
The junior girls teams – Midnight Petroleum and the younger DT Electric outfit – took part in a skills session of their own and also played an exhibition scrimmage against each other. The DT Electric squad, which is the more skilled of the two, played an exhibition game against players from the association's atom house league after the scrimmage was done.
There was even a chance to feel what it was like to sit in a sledge as Sharon Oldford, mother of sledge hockey player Riley Oldford, brought a sledge for people to try.
“There seems to be a growing sledge hockey division so we wanted to show that there are other types of hockey out there,” said West.
It wasn't all on-ice activities as there was also a yoga session led by Cheryl Minkoff with a healthy snack provided for everyone once the business was wrapped up.
The senior DT Electric team took on players from the association's bantam house league in their own exhibition game and it was a warm-up of sorts as several of the girls will be heading to Calgary this weekend for the Wickenheiser Female World Hockey Festival. They'll join up with other girls from around the territory to make up Team NT and they will be playing in the midget division.
The junior DT Electric girls will be going to play in the second part of the tournament, which happens later this month for the atom and peewee divisions.
“This was the second time the senior girls have had the chance to play the bantams,” said West. “The juniors have a mix of novice and atom players going to Calgary so we wanted to see how they worked together and give them a taste of what they'll see down south.”