Minor Hockey Association of the Year Award

St. Albert Minor Hockey Association:

St. Albert Minor Hockey Association (SAMHA) has shown to be one of the most progressive organizations keeping the development of their players and support of volunteers at the forefront. Throughout the 2022-23 season, the SAMHA invested in coach education tools, resources and training. They focused on developing the “whole player” by providing education around conduct, gender education and social media and piloting a mental health app. SAMHA created an Athlete Advisory Council to better understand and improve the player experience, and took steps to listen to membership on their perspectives of the needs within SAMHA.

Whitecourt Minor Hockey Association

Whitecourt Minor Hockey and their key volunteers showed great leadership throughout the 2021-2022 season not only in their community but regionally and provincially as well. Significant steps were taken to review their overall governance, policies and overall delivery of Hockey within Whitecourt. Whitecourt is a proud member of Hockey Alberta and have always contributed to discussion and collaboration sessions in efforts of improving the participant experience. A key area of focus for WMHA was in growing and supporting the opportunities for female hockey, which will continue to benefit both Whitecourt and surrounding communities.

Lethbridge Minor Hockey Association

Lethbridge Minor Hockey has been a leader in its attempts to grow the game in Alberta, especially with their Female program. Lethbridge has shown growth at all levels of Female hockey, with the increased registration numbers coming from a combination of player development and retention.

A prime example of Lethbridge’s commitment to growing the game came in January 2020 and hosting Female Hockey Day. The event on-ice and off-ice activities for players, coaches and officials, and finished off with a USPORT match-up between the Mount Royal Cougars and the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

Lethbridge also volunteered at the last minute to host a Provincial event because we had a vacancy at the female level.