High school hockey is catching on in the Flin Flon region.
The Greenstone High School Hockey League (GHSHL) launched its second season Wednesday with two new teams and a growing sense of enthusiasm.
“This is a recreational hockey league giving these students the opportunity to play a game a week,” explains Dan Reagan, who voluntarily runs the league along with Doug Gawiak.
The GHSHL consists of one team each from Flin Flon, Creighton, Cranberry Portage, Pelican Narrows, Sandy Bay and Deschambault Lake.
Sandy Bay and Deschambault Lake are new to the league this year, while Cranberry Portage will have one team instead of last year’s two.
About 100 players, including a dozen or so females, are part of the league, registered as either Bantam or Midget players, depending on their age.
“We’ve got a lot of kids that have quit hockey in Peewee and have come back to play,” says Reagan.
“Some of the kids from Deschambault or Pelican may have come to Flin Flon to play, but a lot of them really haven’t played any organized hockey before.”
Each team will play an 18-game schedule plus playoffs. Games consist of two 30-minute periods with the clock running uninterrupted, even during breaks in the play.
Certified refs officiate the action, doling out three-minute penalties, with no body-checking or slapshots allowed.
Reagan said the idea is that each team will “roll the lines” to ensure all players receive equal time on the ice.
To cut down on travel, teams in the “east” – Flin Flon, Creighton and Cranberry Portage – will play most of their games against each other. The same is true of the reserve teams in the “west.”
Reagan helped launch the GHSHL last year, noting the lack of organized hockey for high school-aged students in the region.
He knew there was demand in Cranberry Portage, where he lives, and rightly assumed there would be enough players in Flin Flon and Creighton. Pelican Narrows came on board, too.
All but one of the communities can host games, the exception being Sandy Bay, which does not have a hockey arena.
The league is named in recognition of Community Futures Greenstone, a sponsor that helps purchase sweaters and awards for the players.
Earlier this month, the Rotary Club of Flin Flon donated $1,000 to the league. Reagan says the funds will mostly go to the Flin Flon and Creighton teams, as the other communities sponsor their teams.
The GHSHL was scheduled to kick off its season Wednesday evening at the Creighton Sportex. The season will wrap up in March with a championship game.
