TISDALE – The Northeast Aces female hockey program plans to expand its girls’ hockey offering.
The Northeast Aces are looking to increase the number of teams currently in their program and have surveyed the region to gather more information from parents and players.
Ben Nygaard, AA coordinator for the Northeast Aces, said, “This season our intention is to continue to run all the same programs but to also align an A and AA program at the under-13, under-15 and under-18 level.”
Currently, the Northeast Aces run one Under-9 tournament team, one to two Under-11 tournament teams, an Under-13 AA team, an Under-15 A team, and an Under-18 AA team.
The Aces sent out a survey in late March and had more than 250 responses. From those responses, there is more interest in the AA program at the under-13 level than the under-11.
Nygaard said, “Part of our strategy is to draw in more females to help fill these teams was to re-center the program out of Melfort.”
For all the AA programs, practices were centralized to Melfort and Star City, making it an acceptable travel distance for both the communities to the north and south.
Previously, Nygaard said around 50 per cent of their practices were held in Nipawin out of necessity, because they have two rinks, which limited their ability to draw from communities south of the Melfort and Tisdale area. As far as games, the rink location will be team-dependent and likely fluctuate depending on where players are from.
“We would like to accommodate many of the supporting communities to host home games wherever possible.
“In correlation with our AA teams 小蓝视频 more centralized, our goal is to run our A programs more regionally. For example, if at any age group there is a split of players from Nipawin, Tisdale, Kelvington and Porcupine Plains; we would have an Aces team centered in the north around Tisdale and Nipawin and a separate team in the south centered around Kelvington and Porcupine Plain. Practices and games could then be scheduled for those local areas, thus limiting travel distances for all involved.”
Nygaard said their numbers have been increasing steadily year over year.
“In the northeast and central regions, the younger age groups coming through have very strong numbers and part of our goal is to make sure there will always be a consistent place for them to play as they age through the program. Our biggest opposition to having strong numbers annually is the travel distance for practices and games.”
The Aces are planning a meeting with interested parents in April. The date for this has not been confirmed. The Aces will also host a female hockey day early in the fall to include all age categories.
Nygaard said the best place to keep up to date on all things Northeast Aces is to follow their . Parents can also visit their website at neaces.ca or contact their general manager, Leanne Kehrig, at [email protected].
The Northeast Aces under-15 A team had its most successful season since the program started.
“Historically, we have always had the numbers for multiple teams at every level, and the talent in each to succeed. Our challenge has always been and always will be, to get the players and families that are in our drawing area to buy into female hockey. Not just for their daughters today but also for the ones that are coming through afterward. We hope that the changes we have brought into effect for the 2025 season are a positive step towards making the dream of a successful female program in the northeast a reality not just for next season but for all the seasons to come afterwards as well.”
