Steinbach Minor Hockey plans community-building event in lieu of home tournaments

Without the ability to host hockey tournaments this year, Steinbach Minor Hockey is getting creative with a new community-building event. 

Spokesperson Jasmine Dyck says now that the Centennial Arena is gone, and the SEC is still under construction, the only indoor ice surface in Steinbach is the T.G. Smith. With 14 teams and 175 athletes in their program, she notes it has been a tight squeeze. 

“Coming into the season with one sheet of ice for all of us was nerve wracking. So, Tuesday is the one day of the week that all of our divisions from the tiniest ones in U7, to the biggest ones in U18 all practice in one evening. Sounds crazy and it is crazy, but it's actually been so fun and it's created and heightened such a wonderful sense of community.” 

Dyck says they are looking to add to that sense of community in mid-December by hosting an event called Practice and Pancakes. 

“Pancakes are being served by Smitty's for the Steinbach Minor Hockey Association members at the event. All of our divisions practice, so they’ll hop on ice as usual and then they’ll hop off ice and someone is going to serve them up some pancakes with the encouragement to donate to Steinbach Community Outreach.” 

There will also be a 50/50 draw in support of Steinbach Youth For Christ. 

In addition, Dyck says “Santa will be there so we can take some pictures with Santa. We really miss that piece this year too, our U7s would normally always have a Santa, pre-Christmas home tournament, but with one sheet of ice, we can't do tournaments. This is just a really good way to tie all that together.” 

The T.G. Smith Arena is a busy place Tuesday evenings

Dyck notes they are very much looking forward to the Southeast Event Centre being completed. Not only because it will make life easier and more enjoyable for Steinbach Minor Hockey but also because it’s great for the community. 

“Tournaments bring in a lot of people from outside of Steinbach into the community. The city and the businesses will also lose some love from not having tournaments.” 

The Steinbach Minor Hockey Association will enjoy Practice and Pancakes on Tuesday, December 12th. Dyck says “it's an effort to compensate for that loss of Miller time when a home tournament arrives,” adding “we just wanted to do something as an association to bring the community closer together.” 

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