The Chilton Regional Arena was taken over on Sunday by North Island girls learning the basics of hockey.
The Esso Fun Day event was held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., which featured a group of coaches teaching the girls basic hockey drills before having a scrimmage to end the ice-time. The event also included a tasty barbecue lunch afterwards in the Chilton Arena’s upstairs room.
“This was the second year we’ve had the Esso Fun Day, we used to hold jamborees previously, and we had 20 kids come out this year, which is a great turnout,” said Lisa Brown, co-ordinator for Tri-Port female minor hockey.
Tri-Port Midget Wild Assistant Coach Jeremy Browne was one of the instructors on the ice helping out with the drills and the scrimmage.
He said he really liked the fact they are “introducing a lot of girls to the Wild program, and I like what these programs are doing for the local communities here.”
Browne said he hopes the girls who attended the Esso Fun Day “develop a love for hockey and move forward with it and develop as a player.”
Brown, who is also the Tri-Port Intro Girls coach, said she hopes the girls “took this as an opportunity to try out hockey, get a little bit out outside of their comfort zone, meet some new people, and build friendships.”
She felt the fun day was mainly “to review the basics of hockey so they can develop new skills, while also really giving them a sense of what hockey is all about.”
Brown added this will give them a boost of confidence to want to keep playing.
The two Esso Fun Days have been successful events for Tri-Port minor hockey.
The events have averaged about 8-10 girls who are brand new to hockey signing up to play in the minor hockey system.
Brown is anticipating another increase in the number of female minor hockey players for the coming season.
“We’re striving towards making enrolment 50/50,” she said, before explaining that Tri-Port minor hockey “is made up of around 30 per cent girls, and we want to just keep increasing that number until registration is even with the boys.”
