After a week-long mid-term break, Kings Sports Centre’s youth hockey league skated back into action this past Saturday.
As the little skaters took to the court to shake the rust from their wheels the league also began announcing their plans for a busy New Year.
The 2012 January Learn-to-Skate programme officially kicks off on Saturday, 7 January and this year’s programme is set to be one of the largest yet. The Learn-to-Skate programme is the precursor to the hockey leagues and the driving force behind hockey’s growth.
Kings Sports Centre Athletic Director Ray Singh commented, “There’s been a lot of interest in the January programme, especially with the new discount for government school students through the School of Fitness programme. We’re estimating 30-40 new players coming into the hockey leagues next year. We are trying re-work our schedules to accommodate for the growth, including adding in a playoff round for the current season, and finishing in December.”
The league is poised to add two teams per division through 2012, bringing each of the core divisions to six teams.
In the Peewee league, the Stuarts Panthers have risen as the new league threat. After dismantling the KPMG Senators before the mid-term break, the Panthers jumped into the number two spot with their commanding 12-4 victory against the Appleby Sharks. The Senators meanwhile rebounded from their first loss of the season, to handily defeat the Vampt Oilers 6-1 in their contest.
In the Atom League the Conyers Canucks and WestStar Wild further solidified their number one and two rankings with their respective victories over the Eats Blazers and Ernst and Young Eagles. After a shaky start to the Atom league back in September, the division has become a competitive powerhouse with each game keeping fans on the edge of their seats. This Saturday, the Conyers Canucks and WestStar Wild will face off in the battle for division supremacy.
The biggest Cayman hockey news of the week came via the league’s Novice division, as the PWC Lightning and Walkers Blue Iguanas came up with significant wins. The Lightning defeated the number one ranked Dart Ducks, handing them their first loss of the season. The game was a thriller for fans, as the Ducks battled back in the last few minutes of the game, nearly tying the match on several attempts. Lightning Coach Jason Windsor, a noted local adult hockey player, expressed his delight afterwards claiming “fierce back-checking” was the predominant force that lead to the victory.
“PWC were coming back in waves,” Windsor said. “Sadie Finch, Finn Gray, Shayana Windsor all made last minute goal saving checks after long end-to-end back checks to help preserve the victory. Scotty Bowman would have been proud of coach Krista Finch’s ability to motivate her team.
“I’d like to thank Thomas “Ovechkin” Milne for scoring and assisting on a number of goals, Nic McCallum had some nice goals and Will Dyer for using his unique holding the goal stick with one hand to the right of this body style (rather than butterfly goal stick flat between your skates). With no prior practice in goal this year other than the warm-up, Will used his athleticism (and later in the game used the butterfly) to backstop the Lightning to victory.”
In game two, the Walkers Blue Iguanas pulled off a dominant victory over the MaplesFS Jets with their 10-5 finish. The victory has bumped the Blue Iguanas up into third place in the league tables. League games play each Saturday at Kings Sports Centre from 7.45am to 4.30pm.
For more information email Ray Singh at [email protected]
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