COLD LAKE - The Lakeland Jaguars are ready to claw their competition in front of hometown crowds in the Alberta Provincial Championships.
The Cold Lake Energy Centre will be a familiar setting for both the Lakeland Jaguars bantam and midget teams, as they host the Hockey Alberta Provincial Championships.
First to hit the rink are the bantam teams from March 19 to 22, followed by the midgets from the 26 to 29.
Although their main goal is to come out of the tournament with gold, midget manager Justin Cornet noted there is an ulterior motive at play.
“It’s really exciting to be hosting these provincials. We feel by hosting them we can get more support for female hockey in the area," he explained during a presentation to the City of Cold Lake council on Tuesday, Jan. 28. “We still have a lot of female players in main stream hockey and we would like to pull them over to the female program.”
The Lakeland Jaguars are an all-female hockey league managed by the Cold Lake Minor Hockey Association. Cornet said while these types of hockey leagues are gaining traction in other communities across the province, they feel the Lakeland is falling behind the trend.
With two weekends of back-to-back hockey action, Cornet is hopeful the tournaments will spark something in local female players.
Cornet, in addition to bantam manager Kyla Nuttall, was seeking financial support from the city.
“We’ve talked amongst our committee about hosting the best tournament we can, but keeping it realistic, so cutting out some things that are nice-to-haves but aren’t needed. We will be hosting a basic tournament with a banquet and a raffle table, but mostly focusing on the hockey part of the tournament,” detailed Cornet, adding Hockey Alberta has been eager to hear what the Jaguars have planned outside of hosting "just a hockey tournament."
"We have to tailor that a little bit because the economy isn’t in great shape,” noted Cornet. “We’ve created our sponsorship levels to match (the economy). We have to keep those dollar amounts low and we’re hoping that will get us more support."
This is also why both levels are working together to host the two tournaments, even though they're technically separate events.
“The two groups have decided to work together because it benefits the Jaguar program,” Nuttall explained.
According to both managers, neither the bantam nor midget leagues had any communities express interest in hosting, which is why they decided to step up.
“Typically the way it works is you have to have a bid in by Nov. 1, hockey season doesn’t start until the end of October so you really don’t know what your team looks like,” stated Cornet. “They usually tell you by Dec. 1 who the hosts are. There wasn’t one host in any of the female divisions this year; nobody put a bid in. That’s where as a midget team we decided we’ve played a few games, we have a strong team, we will throw a bid in and see what happens. We ended up getting it.”
Hockey Alberta was on the brink of cancelling their bantam event when the Jaguars placed their bid.
“We as a group, our girls are a strong team this year and are definitely contenders to do well. We didn’t want to see them not be able to go, or the other eight to 10 teams not be able to be a part of a tournament,” detailed Nuttall.
While the midgets are expecting roughly 120 players to hit the ice during their event, the bantams have yet to receive any concrete numbers.
It could be anywhere from eight to 10 teams, Nuttall explained, which is why the Jaguars were planning on utilizing both hockey rinks at the Energy Centre.
“It’s a great opportunity for the City of Cold Lake to showcase the Energy Centre, which is, in my opinion, one of the nicest rinks in the area," Cornet expressed, adding not only will the local facility be put in the spotlight, but local restaurants and hotels will also see the benefits of hosting the tournament in Cold Lake.
“What the tournament is going to entail, for the midget tournament for instance, is we’re going to have eight teams. That’s about 120 kids and 120 families coming to the area,” he continued.
This isn't the first time the local female league has hosted an event of this caliber. In fact, Cornet said they've brought the provincial tournament to the city before, in 2014.
Mayor Craig Copeland was curious as to where the profits from such events go.
“They were put into a Jaguar account, but since then, the directors of that bank account decided to do things like bring in Base Hockey from Edmonton to teach the girls some shooting skills, we did some developmental stuff,” explained Cornet. “There is still some money left in there, just not a whole lot."
The Jaguars intend to set any dollars earned from the tournament this time around aside for future championships.
The local girls will be stepping onto the ice against teams from across Alberta, but Cornet said that doesn't intimidate them in the slightest.
“The Jaguars program is a very strong program. Our league sends a delegate to a provincial tournament every year and about 80 per cent of the time our league wins,” he stressed. “We have a very strong program and we want to continue to build on that."
Council deferred deciding on whether or not to support the tournament to March, when they will have more information about the funding they have available for 2020 initiatives.
Meagan MacEachern, Bonnyville Nouvelle
