The Bonnyville Minor Hockey Association (BMHA) has seen a spike in younger teams as they get set to drop the puck on the 2017-18 season.
As player evaluations get underway, approximately 300 players have signed up to play in the BMHA.
While the younger divisions have always been more popular, they're especially full this season.
“We have about 300 kids. This year we have an influx of novice and atom-aged players, which is great,” said Darcy Skarsen, president of BMHA.
At the hockey school level, there has been a slight decline in the number of kids registered, but it has been more than made up for by the jump in novice registration.
This year, a total of five novice teams will compete in league play. This is up one more than last year, and the most the league has ever seen.
In the atom division, four teams will play this season.
From there, the league experiences a slight drop-off in pee-wee, with three teams, and even further in bantam with two teams. A lone midget aged squad rounds out the league.
“Generally speaking, the numbers are stronger than they have ever been. There's a peak at the seven to 10-year-old kids. We always see a decline beginning in pee-wee, but that always comes with school and jobs and other interests kids have,” Skarsen noted.
He added, the only difficulty with a rising number of teams, is ensuring everybody gets equal ice time.
This year, to ensure each team gets the necessary number of league games and practices, BMHA will only hold tournaments for the initiation and novice divisions.
“With more teams, you need more ice, which is obviously something we don't have in Bonnyville, but we make due with what we've got. At the end of the day, our biggest problem is going to be how many teams we have and how to accommodate them all,” said Skarsen.
While the continuous growth has made scheduling, more difficult, it's also offered relief in the day-to-day operations of the league.
According to Skarsen, more teams means more volunteers are willing to give their time to BMHA.
“The more you have, the more you need, but it's been good. I think with the bigger numbers we have seen more volunteers and coaches out too. It goes hand-in-hand. This year has been looking really good as far as people stepping up to help coach and evaluate,” he continued.
Coaches met over the past weekend to select teams, with team practices and games set to get underway in the upcoming week.
With a healthy level of competition, and a high level of participation, BMHA is excited to get the season going.
“It's been good, we're just getting our teams all picked, and we'll be ready to get rocking and rolling soon,” said Skarsen.