Martensville Minor Hockey Association (MMHA) hosted a barbeque event at the Martensville Co-op on Wednesday, August 10th at 5:30pm, and shared news prior to the event that there would be a big announcement made. Those attending were invited to bring their hockey sticks and mini sticks to take part in some street hockey fun. A wide array of local athletes, both male and female, were in attendance as well.
The big announcement that was made was one that will benefit the entire community, as Martensville was chosen to host the 15th edition of Hockey Day in Saskatchewan (HDIS), which will take place from January 16-22, 2023.
MMHA will be the host committee for this event, and according to MMHA President Trevor Hanley, applying to be the host of HDIS has been something that the Board has been working towards for some time.
Since 2014, the Martensville Community Recreation Project (MCRP) has been working to raise money to help construct a new recreation facility for Martensville through numerous events and fundraisers such as their 3 on 3 tournament, which is currently running until September 18th; a Community House Build, hockey drafts, Party on the Pond and more. Since inception, the MCRP has raised $3.189 million to go towards the project.
The future multi-purpose recreation facility will be located on the west side of Highway 12 within the upcoming Trilogy Ranch development, which will consist of 680 acres of commercial and residential development.
An additional ice surface will be a welcome addition to the community, as the MMHA continues to see growth each year, currently having 431 players registered equaling over 30 teams of both co-ed and female hockey from U7 to U18. Not only does the association utilize the rink in Martensville, but also operates out of five other rinks in other communities. The rink in Martensville is also utilized by the figure skating club and CanSkate program.
“Of course those towns also have their own hockey associations, which are also growing, so the availability of ice continues to shrink. Each of our teams also look to secure additional ice for practices and tournaments and so are renting ice in other communities,” Hanley explained.
Because of these growing numbers and lack of available ice, Hanley noted that the MMHA hasn’t been able to host a tournament in Martensville for the past eight to nine years.
“These local tournaments can have great economic benefit in the area. Another rink in our community would enable us to host tournaments locally again and local businesses would stand to benefit from the increased traffic in Martensville,” Hanley added.
Other limitations brought on by lack of options include not having room to host Martensville female AA teams, and the association contemplating having to put caps on registrations. “The idea of telling a kid that their local association doesn’t have room for them is awful. In some of the surrounding communities they don’t have enough kids to form their own local team and so where we have room we have been able to bring those kids into our community and allow them to be Marauders as well. We have also, as a community had to pass on the opportunity to apply for things like a AAA team or bringing senior hockey back to Martensville.”
Through HDIS, the MMHA is setting a goal of raising over $90,000 to be used towards the construction of the new facility.
“This is an extremely exciting announcement for Martensville and our hockey association. The day will be a celebration of hockey right from the grassroots all the way up to the SJHL. We have an opportunity to host a Sask U18AAA game, a PJHL game and an SJHL game. Our association continues to see our athletes move on to play in these leagues, so, the opportunity for some of them to come back and play in their home rink one more time is very cool. It also serves as an inspiration for other players within our association to strive for the same. This event is going to attract hundreds of people to our community to take in the festivities.”
Because this announcement is so fresh, there is still much planning to be done; however Hanley stated that on top of the ice activities and games, there will also be other events for people to participate in. Despite being a celebration of hockey in the community, it is important to the MMHA to have everyone involved.
Future announcements will be made on various opportunities to sponsor and volunteer for this event; however, in the meantime, Hanley stated that anyone interested in participating can contact the organizing committee at mmhahockeyday2023@gmail.com.
