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19th annual Yelnats Cup taking place this weekend

The 19th annual Yelnats Cup is set to get underway today at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre and will continue through until March 31 when the final games will take place.
on March 30. RYAN MCLEOD/COCHRANE EAGLE
The 19th annual Yelnats Cup tournament starts today and will go until March 31.

The 19th annual Yelnats Cup is set to get underway today at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre and will continue through until March 31 when the final games will take place.

The yearly Midget hockey tournament is hosting approximately 400 athletes with 16 visiting teams competing with the eight local Cochrane teams ranging from Tier 1 to Tier 5, with a total of 50 games taking place over the weekend. There will also be a silent auction, raffle tables and a 50/50 draw.

"There's a really great atmosphere around Spray Lakes and this year we've got eight Cochrane teams competing out of the 24 teams so there's a lot of good hockey as well as other things taking place throughout the weekend," said one of the many Yelnats committee members and volunteers Dave Koop.

"We've got the silent auction, 50/50 draws, raffle tables and lots of good hockey as well. It's a great atmosphere to be around and a great environment for a family too."

The tournament, which was an all-male tournament for last 18 years has added a female division for the first time. The Cochrane Rockies female team will host the Dewberry Wild, the Edmonton Outlaws and Calgary Ignite.

"It kind of came about last year with discussions about reorganizing how the tournament was done. Out of our eight Midget hockey teams, we have one Tier 1, one Tier 3, one Midget female and five house league teams ... the committee last year decided to make it a bit more proportional representation of all the Midget hockey," Koop said of the new format. "So we bumped up the house division to 12 teams so those five teams would have a little more competition and a few more teams to invite. Then the discussion shifted around to 'why not the girls team?' So they decided to have a four-team division for Tier 1, Tier 3 and Midget female so it got broken up a bit so it was a bit more proportional to the amount of teams we have in Cochrane.

"There are still ongoing discussions to try and include the AA team and how we can get them in. Talks about that are still swirling around that. But it's pretty exciting, I'm actually coaching the Midget girls team this year so I think we're going to have a lot of fun with it."

Women's hockey has really grown worldwide in the past couple years, especially since the 2018 Winter Olympic final between Canada and the United States in Pyeongchang. While Koop said that game didn't directly impact the decision to add the female division, the fact that sport is becoming more popular in Cochrane, made sense..

"I think part of it is the board of directors, there's lots of us who wear different hats. So the Cochrane Minor Hockey board of directors have a lot of people volunteering their time and doing a lot of different events like female hockey games and we're really trying to advance and grow female hockey in Cochrane," said Koop who doubles as a Yelnats committee member as well as sits on the board of directors.

"Things like the Olympics and Cochrane Chaos really impact the sport in Cochrane. We're trying to leverage events with them (the Chaos) and try and grow hockey ... two of the players off the Chaos actually help me coach the Midget team so I think a lot of these things are used to try and grow it and if that was the case, why didn't we include them in the Yelnats tournament. It creates a lot of memories and a lot of buzz and excitement around female hockey in general. There was some momentum so why don't we have them join."

The Yelnats Cup is likely the final games of hockey third year Midget players will play before graduating from the sport and go into a different portion of their life. Koop said it's important to honour those graduating players for both the individual and their families.

"The graduating towel is still being handed out to the graduating players during their last game ... sometimes I wonder if it's more for the moms and dads then it is for the players but I think it's good recognition for both the parents and the kids," Koop said.

"With most minor hockey associations, the kids play their final game and get home and go 'huh I guess that was my last game'. I think whoever came up with the idea of the towels is fantastic and it's certainly a tradition we want to continue. The last couple of years) has become a bit more of a tradition where the parents present their kids with the towel. It gives them a chance to reflect back on the 13 or 14 years of hockey and I think its a great way to recognize both the players and the parents."

In addition to the hockey-packed hosting duties, the fundraising tournaments also bring in a ton of money for community groups – since its inception, Yelnats has donated money to expansion of Spray Lake Sawmills  Family Sports Centre facility and equipment, the Lindsay Leigh Kimmett Foundation and various children's sports charities. Last year, the tournament brought more than 1,000 visitors to Cochrane and approximately $200,000 was injected into Cochrane's local economy.


Troy Durrell

About the Author: Troy Durrell

Troy is the Sports and Entertainment Reporter for the Cochrane Eagle.
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