The Warman Minor Hockey Association (WMHA) was awarded the Legendary Group Award at the Warman City Council meeting on Monday, March 28. Front row, left to right) Warman Mayor Gary Philipchuk, WMHA President Lyndon Thompson, WMHA U15/U18 Coordinator Doug Harms (Back row) Warman Councillors Kevin Tooley, Richard Beck, Marshall Seed, Trevor Peterson, Doug Ramage, Tracy Johnson, Youth Councillor Brigette Montgrand

The City of Warman and Warman City Council are excited to announce Warman Minor Hockey Association as the recipient of the Legendary Group Award for our 2021 Volunteer Appreciation Awards.

Where there’s a legendary group, there’s usually a lengthy, rich history behind it. WMHA was established in the 1966-67 season. In their inaugural season, they had just over 50 members and a small executive of two to three volunteers. In the early days, players and volunteers had to scrape and clean the ice between periods at Diamond Arena. If a flood was needed, out came the barrel and rug.

In the 1990s, WMHA grew to over 150 members. The executive rose to eight members with two division administrators per age group. 

Similar to the city as a whole, WMHA was poised to skyrocket in population. From 2005-15, WMHA membership more than doubled from approximately 200 players to 450. Thankfully, The Legends Centre was built and aided in the growth.

Then, from 2016 until today, another 250 players joined WMHA – 696 players and 49 teams in total. They also now have 17 executive members and two paid positions. As well, there are approximately 400 volunteer managers, coaches, trainers, helpers, treasurers, planners, etc. that volunteer between dozens and hundreds of hours each season to ensure players can keep playing.

WMHA is one of the most prominent and brightest member clubs within Hockey Saskatchewan. They are also one of the amazing pillars of sport in our community. We are proud and grateful of how their members and executive represent our city. We are thankful for the efforts they have invested to ensure WMHA continues to be a fantastic program for youth in our community. It’s important our youth have many options to reap the rewards that team sports and group activities in general have to offer.

Again, we’d like to congratulate WMHA and all their members on being the recipient of our 2021 Legendary Group Award!

ABOUT THE AWARD: This is awarded yearly to a club that has contributed long-term to Warman. With their efforts, the winning club has developed & implemented projects, fundraisers or events that have had a positive impact on our community.