High School Hockey Comes To Steinbach

The Steinbach Regional High School will be adding a hockey team to their repertoire this upcoming fall.

It was just announced this past Friday that the Winnipeg High School Hockey League accepted the regional's application.

"This is a very exciting addition to our school," says Cam Kelbert, the school's vice-principal. "We are really excited with what this will offer our students."

The news put a final stamp of a approval on what was a many month process Kelbert said, getting approval from the school board, finding out what the interest levels were from students and parents, and then working on the application process, which was an unanimous yes, from the WHSHL.

"We're an urban school in a rural setting," Kelbert said about the regional, which is the third biggest high school in the province. "We're a very big school and we're growing. We can play with the big high schools in Winnipeg and they've recognized that.

"If we can come and put a good competitive product on the ice, on the field, on the floor or wherever it might be, that's something that will push there programs as well."

The new hockey team gives students a new opportunity to pursue the sport with an educational focus. Kelbert stated that their high school team will coincide with school a lot better then the current 'AAA' Midget opportunities available to students.

"There were a good number of kids and parents that were asking about a high-school team," answered Kelbert when asked about why they brought a team to Steinbach. "Certainly with a school our size, we should be participating in a high school hockey league."

The regional wasted little time appointing the team's coaching staff. The school's third year, physical educational teacher, Tony D'Angelo will be at the helm alongside Lawney Penner, Jason Wickland and Bonnie Kroeker, who are all teachers at the SRSS.

"It was exciting for sure," explained D'Angelo when the school approached him to coach the team. "It's definitely one of those opportunities that as a teacher you can bring something to the table, with my background in hockey.  To be able to associate those at the same time makes for a wonderful situation."

The regional has a few more details to work out before they host their first spring camp in the next couple of weeks, building awareness for the team before the season starts in the fall. Despite the program being in it's infancy, D'Angelo says that they'll be able to be competitive out of the gates because of the wealth of talent in southeastern Manitoba.

"We're looking at a fantastic base of players, from all over," says D'Angelo, who was a Hockey Canada Course Conductor and was apart of developing the Rick St. Coix School of Goaltending in Winnipeg.

"We have a wonderful opportunity, when you have a school of 1700 to 1800 players, we have a great base of talented players. A lot of them are coming into a situation of where they live in the community where they are going to school and now you get a representation of that," said D'Angelo.

Jerseys aren't confirmed yet, but what they did say, was that they'll be the school's tradition black and gold. The team will be practicing and playing out of the T.G. Smith Centre in downtown Steinbach.