The town of Chestermere town has grown substantially over the past 10 years as have the registrations with Chestermere Minor Hockey. CMHA had chosen a committee to look into Chestermere becoming a “AA” hockey organization on its own. The committee started to look into all aspects of “AA” hockey with intentions of starting our own “AA” organization in the 2015/16 season.
“AA” hockey consists of players in the categories of Pee Wee (11-12 year olds), Bantam (13-14 year olds) and Midget (15-17 year olds). Players in these age groups currently take the opportunity to go to Wheatland “AA” organization (Strathmore) to tryout with the aspirations of playing against players in their peer group of the same talent level. Players in the Pee Wee level that play “AA” hockey are playing with the best players in their age category. Players in Bantam and Midget that play “AA” hockey also have the opportunity to play “AAA” hockey in various areas. Bantam aged players have the opportunity to try out for the “AAA” Bantam team hosted in Okotoks. Midget aged players have the opportunity to play at two different levels. The 15 year old players have the opportunity to try out for the Major Midget “AAA” team hosted in Strathmore (UFA Bisons) and also the Minor Midget “AAA” team that Chestermere hosts (Rockyview Raiders). The 16 year old and 17 year players have the opportunity to try out for Major Midget “AAA” team hosted in Strathmore (UFA Bisons).
One of the items on the list for the committee that Chestermere Minor Hockey organized was to talk with Hockey Alberta about their “AA” initiative going forward. Through the past 5 years Hockey Alberta has started to look into an “AA” structure with in the Hockey Alberta guidelines. Hockey Alberta has worked hard to have its “AA” structure start in the 2014/15 season but there are some hurdles that still need to be cleared for the Hockey Alberta “AA” structure to start. Hockey Alberta is going to have its “AA” model start in the 2015/16 season. In order for this to happen there needs to be regulation changes to the Hockey Alberta bylaws which need to be voted on at the Hockey Alberta AGM which is held in June of each year. There are numerous other items that need to be looked at like player affiliation and players trying out for organizations other than the current home “AA” organization.
Hockey Alberta’s view on a competitive “AA” organization will consists of the amount of players registered at the levels of Pee Wee, Bantam and Midget. The minimum amount of players registered in each level must be 125. To put things into perspective Chestermere Minor Hockey’s registration numbers at these levels for the 2012/13 season were Pee Wee 56, Bantam 47 and Midget 49. Chestermere did have players play at the “AA” level in Wheatland and players play “AAA” in Bantam and Midget levels. With Hockey Alberta’s minimum amount of registered players Chestermere Minor Hockey would not have a sufficient amount of players to host our own “AA” teams for approximately 5-10 years. While it is Chestermere Minor Hockey’s goal to have our own “AA” teams our organization will have to work hard on increasing and maintaining its registrations in those areas to sustain its own “AA” program. There are some positives in the future for an “AA” program in Chestermere!!! The growth of the Tyke program has been enormous over the past 3 years and there were 90 registered players at this level so an “AA” program may not be too far away for the town of Chestermere. Hockey Alberta will review its draw zones in the future and if and when an association’s numbers increase to the point that they can sustain its own “AA” hockey team or teams they will have their own.
Hockey Alberta’s new structure will give the option to local minor hockey associations to host one of the three “AA” teams. We may see an “AA” team playing out of Chestermere in the near future. Chestermere Minor Hockey will be waiting for Hockey Alberta to release its new “AA” zone draws in the near future. Once they are released Chestermere Minor Hockey will publish Hockey Alberta’s new draw zones on its website
In closing Chestermere Minor Hockey looks forward to Hockey Alberta’s new direction with the “AA” program across Alberta and we are happy about the future of hockey in the town of Chestermere. If there are any questions about “AA” hockey or minor hockey in general please feel free to contact me Shane Hainstock President of Chestermere Minor Hockey and I will answer them. My email is president@chestermereminorhockey.com
Chestermere Minor Hockey’s annual general meeting will be held Tuesday May 13th 7:00pm at the Chestermere Rec Center.
