‘More important things’: Sask. senior hockey teams struggle to fill the bench

Hockey Saskatchewan claims that senior hockey has approximately 100 teams scattered around the province, but that number used to be around 150.

“If you lose your senior hockey team, it’s no different than if you lose your post office or your school in your community,” said Hockey Saskatchewan’s general manager Kelly McClintock.

“It’s become so competitive with a lot of extremely good players playing that at times, some of the local kids in communities don’t get an opportunity to play.”

Senior hockey in Saskatchewan is one of the only ways for athletes to continue playing the sport, without going professional, after minor hockey.

Twin Rivers senior hockey league said they aren’t seeing any issues when it comes to recruiting players overall.

“There are people wanting to come into our league and we’ve got to say no because we don’t want to be a 20-team league,” said President Raymond Carriere.

“You know, we went from a six-team league in year one, to now a 12-team league.”

However, it is common to see a little bit shorter of a bench on game day in senior hockey as most players have full-time jobs and families.

“For every game, you hope you can find at least 10 guys that can make it,” said Rosthern Wheat Kings senior hockey coach Jesse Mattson.

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“I always tell my guys right at the start of the year, when you’re playing senior hockey, there will always be more important things in your life and family will always come first.”

Mattson said it isn’t just senior players at issue – he sees fewer kids play hockey locally than there used to be.

“They are just doing other things. That’s part of the struggle filling rosters for senior hockey because it doesn’t happen without your local players.”

Carriere said that when he was younger, he spent every day in his small-town rink.

“Without a rink, there are no community events,” Carriere said while speaking about rural municipalities in the province. “The rink brings everybody together. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, whether it be hockey, a carnival, public skating, it brings the community together.”

Senior hockey is beginning to have a huge influence on young athletes growing up in small Saskatchewan communities.

“If you are growing up in small-town Saskatchewan that has a senior hockey team, at times you look up more to that senior hockey team than you do an NHL team or your junior team,” McClintock said.

As teams head into playoff season, everyone is excited to get in on the game and support their local team.

“You talk to kids in town and hear, ‘oh I can’t wait to play for the Wheat Kings, and ‘I can’t wait to play senior hockey’, and you try to tell them, well ‘OK, have some bigger aspiration than just senior hockey,'” joked Mattson.