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Quesnel minor hockey: overall numbers down but female players increasing

QDMHA president Dave Greenwood gives us the lowdown on the association so far this year
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Quesnel and District Minor Hockey Association’s midget rep team played in a tournament at the end of last month. Melanie Law photo

Quesnel minor hockey has been in full swing since the end of September.

Quesnel and District Minor Hockey Association (QDMHA) president Dave Greenwood says there are around 350 players this year, and about 60 coaches. By comparison, Williams Lake’s minor hockey league has about 525 players registered.

Quesnel numbers are down from last year’s 400-odd players.

“We had a huge group of 1999-born players, and they’ve all moved on,” explains Greenwood.

In the atom, peewee, bantam and midget divisions, he says there are 19 or 20 teams in total, including all the house teams and one rep team each for peewee, bantam and midget. The atom division has a development team rather than a rep team, called Atom Select.

Greenwood has been QDMHA president for four years now and he says the organization is a well-oiled machine.

The association has one paid position, office administrator Shelley Mack, who he says is invaluable.

“She knows more about our association than anyone. If she ever left we’d be in serious trouble!”

Mack says she’s worked for the association for about 12 or 13 years.

“I had two kids go through minor hockey, and I was volunteering for the association. I was working five hours at home doing volunteer work. But when it went to online registration, they had to hire someone because it was too much work for a volunteer,” she explains.

“The fact that I’m paid has really helped with the organization of it. I schedule ice time and organize all the registration.”

Mack credits the volunteer directors and coaches with keeping things running smoothly.

“We really rely on our volunteers a lot,” she says.

Greenwood says it can be hard to get enough coaches involved, since they are all volunteers.

“Every year it’s a struggle to get coaches. I know several who are coaching about four teams. They are the backbone of our association.”

But getting ice time is no problem. Greenwood says the association gets roughly the same time year-on-year, and the players are really enjoying practicing and playing on the new rink.

Read more: Quesnel midget rep team comes fourth in home tournament

New this year on the QDMHA executive is a female hockey coordinator. Kristen Jensen is tasked with promoting female hockey in Quesnel, and has created two teams from female players across all divisions.

The teams will travel to play some tournaments against other all-girl teams in the region. The girls also play on house and rep teams across the divisions. Greenwood says he hopes to be able to create all-girl teams in all the divisions in the future.

B.C. Hockey has also created an initiative to promote female hockey.

“We are seeing more girls join, especially in the younger divisions, so we thought it was a good time for us to take this step as well,” comments Greenwood.

“It’s not better or worse to have girls on a separate team, but the sport is growing with girls and other towns have all-female teams, so if we have some, they can play those other regional teams.”

Greenwood says he didn’t grow up playing hockey, but living in Quesnel, his son began to play and that meant getting to know the sport.

With Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Junior B team the Kamloops Storm coming to play this weekend, he says he and other members of the executive are fired up to see the games.

“We are really excited about the Junior B team coming to play. Quesnel is ripe for a Junior B team; it would be a huge benefit to our association.

“Our midget players could have a place to play when they age out, and it’s fun hockey to watch.”