Quote:
Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn
You can get starter kits for younger kids that range in price from $80 - $120. Canadian Tire has the Jonethan Toews sets that basically include pants, shin pads, elbow pads, shoulder pads, gloves and a small bag. The set is made by Bauer.
Chevy had (maybe still has) a promotion where you can get a voucher for a free helmet for a five year old registered in minor hockey. You go down to your local dealership and show them that your kid is registered in minor hocky and their birth year. They give you a certificate for a free helmet from Sport Chek. There are also other coupons for equipment from Bauer in the package.
Access to ice is an interesting question. With the reduction in minor hockey registration, ice is becoming more and more available in some communities. Larger centers like Calgary probably do suffer from a lack of available ice because of the huge growth rate of the city over the last decade.
One thing that Red Deer does very well, I'm not sure about Calgary, is buiding and maintaining out door rinks. Not sure how many we have here in Red Deer, but pretty much every community has one, with boards, lights, and hockey goals. Only the older neighborhoods have heated shack's to put your skates on though. I take my six year old son out on our local rink a few nights a week if the weather is good.
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I live in Lethbridge and we have ZERO outdoor rinks. The chinooks we get would be big problems for maitaining an outdoor rink though.
Are minor hockey numbers down in Red Deer? Has this been the recent trend?
I don't see kids qutting as "failure" at growing hockey, they tried it and it is not for them, for whatever reason.
I think that if hockey was only 1x/wk, be it a practise or a game more kids would be playing but...would that be growing the game?