Sicamous Minor Hockey has received an unusual donation that will help local youth pursue their dreams of becoming the next Shea Weber or Cody Franson.
The minor hockey association recently received 25 sets of gear, from helmets to skates and everything in between, estimated to be worth about $15,000. The gear was donated through the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA), with Weber and Franson doing the footwork behind the scenes to make it happen.
Minor Hockey president Samantha Dunnett says Weber and Franson began making arrangements for the donation in July 2012 when the d-men hosted their inaugural Sicamous Shootout - Franson/Weber Annual Golf Classic at Hyde Mountain Golf Course.
The gear, says Dunnett, will go to kids who might otherwise find taking part in the sport cost-prohibitive.
“It’s going to go to help kids whose parents can’t afford both fees and gear. It’s going to go to help kids who can’t get good gear, kids who are playing hockey but their helmets are out of date and they shouldn’t be wearing them, things like that. So hopefully, it’s going to get a lot more kids out into hockey.”
Dunnett says the donation was made through the NHLPA’s goals and dreams fund, which normally would have required going through an application process based on need.
“We didn’t really have to do all of that because of Shea and Cody, who decided to donate it anyway,” says Dunnett. “We didn’t go through a lot of the hoops that most communities would have to.”
While minor hockey in Sicamous has seen some challenges in recent years, Dunnett says this past season was a good one.
“We had the older midget team, we had a peewee team, an atom team and a pre-novice team,” says Dunnett. “Next year I’m not sure how many of those teams we’ll have. I’m pretty sure we’ll have the midget and a novice team, and possibly a peewee team. So we still should do pretty good.”
Regarding the cost of minor hockey, Dunnett says the organization has tried to keep the fees low for the past few years, and that the donated gear is going to help a lot.