Ice hockey season may be coming to a close in Grande Prairie, but that doesn’t mean area locals will be forced to sit on their couches to get their hockey fix.
Ball hockey season is back in full swing, with the Grande Prairie Metro Ball Hockey’s (GPBH) 12th season set to begin in early April.
“There’s such a demand for this sport, it really is unreal,” said Craig Thiessen, the Business and Program Development Director for GPBH.
“People in Grande Prairie will literally play ball hockey one-on-one in a closet if they have to.”
If you decide to attend a match of this great sport, you may find that you are a lone wolf in the crowd.
“It’s not a huge spectator sport until you get to the qualifier’s, regional’s, or national’s,” said Thiessen.
“With a normal men’s game, you may only see half a dozen bodies up in the stands, but you’re usually playing on a team full of your buddies, so the game still has all the emotion.”
Thiessen explained that the greater audiences seem to turn up during the kid’s games, citing obvious reasons such as parents always being in attendance.
With ball hockey growing as a sport, Thiessen is hoping to bring more to the Grande Prairie area, in more ways than one.
“Somehow, someway, come hell or high water, we’re going to be looking at putting a ball hockey season on, all year round in Grande Prairie come this September.”
Thiessen said there are also plans for GPBH to add a co-ed division, as well as a masters (ages 35-55) division within the league.
After starting out as a small six-team league in Grande Prairie, the league has grown with such a velocity to become an association consisting of almost 70 teams.
The upcoming season is expected to have as many as around 32 men’s teams, 25 kid’s teams, and a dozen women’s teams.
The upcoming season will be the second season the Grande Prairie County Sportsplex will be one of the host arenas for ball hockey, and will be the main headquarters for the GPBH.
Games will also be played at the former headquarters for GPBH, the Dave Barr Arena, as well as the Sexsmith Arena, Clairmont Arena and Wembley Arena.
The men’s registration fee is $3,300 per team, for 18 regular season games and playoffs. The women’s registration is $3,100 per team for 16 regular season games and playoffs.
The youth category is a little more complicated, as different age groups will in their own divisions and teams are subject to change and merge based on registration.
The cost to register a team (with a minimum of 14 players) is $2,850 or $200 per kid for 14 regular season games and playoffs.
The newest category, the “tykes” (ages 3-5) costs $125 per kid, and games will be played only on Saturdays from May 3 to June 28, excluding May long weekend.
GPBH offered special $50 discounts during the registration.
A discount is available to team’s that are returning with at last a minimum of 50% of their players from the year before.
Another discount is being offered to teams that refer another team that consists of 75% of new players.
The final discount is for teams that either won their division or a championship the year before.
The men’s season begins April 7, while the women’s and youth’s season begins in late April or early May.
For more information, go to www.gpballhockey.ca.
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