Despite being in the midst of a pandemic and the majority of sporting events on the back burner, the Warman U18 AAA Wildcats hockey team is still preparing for its inaugural season.
One of the challenges for the the Wildcats so far is getting sponsorship from local business because everyone is still reeling from the impact COVID-19 has had on society and the economy.
“We’re trying to be as respectful as possible and understanding,” said Warman U18 AAA Wildcats administrator Chris Mason. “We’re a brand new team and in order for us to make it in the league, be reputable and be a really good team on the ice we need that sponsorship.”
The Wildcats have already announced their head coach, Ryan McDonald, but the organization has recently hired two more coaches to its staff.
Courage Bear will be the assistant coach and Richie Regehr is the skills development coach.
Bear is from the Ochapowace First Nation where he began his coaching career 25 years ago. He most recently spent the last four year as an assistant coach for the Saskatoon U18 AAA Contacts. Before coaching the Contacts, he coached the Martensville U18 AA Marauders for eight years.
Regehr grew up in Rosthern and he brings a lot of experience to the team, as he played professional hockey in Europe for ten years.
Those coaches have ties to the Saskatchewan hockey community and that is important in starting this brand new team.
“It’s nice to have local (Saskatchewan) guys that are a part of our team. I think it’ll add to what we’re trying build and they all bring a lot of experience,” Mason said.
The Wildcats planned to have a spring camp this month but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was cancelled.
“We had likely close to 90 kids that were signed up to come to our camp, which would’ve given us a really good opportunity to evaluate that talent and then give us a better game plan going forward,” Mason said.
Even though the Wildcats didn’t have a chance to evaluate players in a spring camp setting, Mason said the team was scouting players in the months prior to the pandemic.
The U18 AAA Wildcats organization has been in contact with players they are interested in having on the team, which is important because Mason said the Wildcats need to have 10 players committed to the team by June 1.
“It would’ve been wonderful If we had our spring camp and have players walk through walk through our rink and have players see the dressing room and see the facilities,” Mason said. “That would have definitely been a huge advantage for us but I think we’re getting the message out with everybody telling them about all the wonderful things we have going on and how excited our city is for this team.”
Since this is a Warman team, Mason said the organization is looking to fill roster spots with youth from Warman, but he also added that they have been in contact with players all over the province, because the main goal is to have the best possible team they can.
“Our first priority is to ice a very competitive team,” Mason said. “We want to help them to develop as hockey players and we do want to win.”
Mason mentioned that the Wildcats have to keep preparing as if the season is going to happen (on time), which includes hosting a fall camp to help finalize the roster.
“We’ll also have open spots at the fall camp. We won’t have our entire team locked in by the time we have our fall camp,” he said.
There are going to be some learning curves in the inaugural season, but Mason believes there are opportunities for this team to thrive and gain the support needed to be successful.
“From everybody that I’ve talked to in the hockey world there’s a huge buzz that our team is coming into the league and there is tons of excitement,” he said.