Alberta Sledge announces 2019-20 roster

RED DEER - Alberta Sledge is proud to announce the 17 player roster for the Alberta Sledge Program during the 2019-20 season.

The roster was finalized following a two-day tryout camp at Pason Centennial Arenas in Okotoks, Alberta. The camp included skills evaluations and two Intersquad games. A total of 20 players were in contention for the 17 roster spots.

Roster >

This program selection is not a reflection of the final team roster that will represent Alberta in the 2020 Canadian Sledge Hockey Championships in Leduc, Alberta this upcoming May. A final Team Alberta roster announcement will be made in the spring of 2020.

Alberta Sledge’s program roster includes two goaltenders, five defensemen and ten forwards. Head Coach Steve Arsenault (Spruce Grove, AB) assembled the roster with support from Assistant Coach Chris Cederstrand (Okotoks, AB), and Team Director Dean Krawec (St. Albert, AB).

For more information on Alberta Sledge, please contact Dean Krawec, Team Director, at [email protected] or 780-991-5507.

RED DEER - Hockey Alberta is pleased to announce the coaching staffs for the 2020 Alberta Winter Games.

The six coaching staffs for the female program are comprised of one director of operations, one coach mentor, one head coach, one assistant coach, and one apprentice coach. The eight coaching staffs for the male program are comprised of one director of operations, one coach mentor, one head coach, and two assistant coaches.

Female Program Staffs > | Male Program Staffs >

Female regional selection camps kick off this weekend, November 29 - December 1 in Wetaskiwin (North) and Innisfail (South). Male regional selection camps run the following weekend, December 6-8 in Vegreville (North), Edmonton (Capital), Olds (South) and Calgary.

The Alberta Winter Games are set for February 14-17 in Airdrie.

RED DEER – Who is your customer? What does that customer want? What can you do to improve your customer’s experience?

Three key questions involving one common theme – if you don’t know what the problem is that you are trying to solve, your attempts at change will not be successful.

For 90 minutes on Friday night, Matt Symes stated, stressed, discussed and reinforced these questions and themes during the keynote address to open Hockey Alberta’s 112th Annual General Meeting and Hockey Conference at the Cambridge Hotel.

Symes is a founding Partner at Symplicity Designs who has helped introduce more than 350 organizations to the principles, methods, and tools of performance excellence. He has worked with numerous organizations in all sectors, including Hockey Nova Scotia and the Francophone education sector in New Brunswick.

The Friday evening presentation set the stage for a workshop session on Saturday morning, which Symes will be leading with Minor Hockey Association representatives and Hockey Alberta volunteers.

“Hockey is a hard game to change,” said Symes.

He talked about the challenges involved with change, being prepared to move fast enough, and making sure that the proposed changes solve the problem. Identifying the problem is the first step.

“You have to define the problem before you work to solve it,” Symes said. “You have to understand your organization from the outside in, not the inside out. Do you know what your customer is saying? Are we making decisions based on what the customer wants?”

The Hockey Conference continues Saturday morning at Red Deer College with the Leading Change workshop led by Symes. That will be followed by a session on Complaint Handling and Policy Development led by Steve Indig of the Sport & Law Strategy Group, and a hot-stove session will be held to discuss some of the sport’s hot topics.

The Annual General Meeting gets underway at 2 pm.

CALGARY – At its Winter Congress this weekend in Montreal, the Hockey Canada membership approved a regulation change proposed by the board of directors to revise the naming of the age divisions used in minor hockey across Canada.

Following the recommendations of a task team, the age divisions will become U7, U9, U11 and up, impacting all minor and female hockey programs under the Hockey Canada umbrella. The change was initiated by Hockey Canada and its 13 provincial and territorial members and will be implemented nationally with their input and support for the 2020-21 season.

Age divisions can continue to be subdivided as they currently are in some parts of the country. For example, in the Intro to Hockey model in Alberta, where Major and Minor Novice divisions are used by some Minor Hockey Associations, division names would become U8 for Minor Novice and U9 for Major Novice.

“We believe everyone should feel welcome in the game and in our ongoing effort to make hockey more inclusive, the Members at the Hockey Canada Annual Meeting determined that the names of our age Divisions will change,” said Michael Brind’Amour, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors. “Following a comprehensive review, we believe this change will simplify the system for families who may be new to the game. The new age Division names will be implemented for next season.”