Friday Night 8 pm - Hockey Night In Milestone
By Robert Thomas
Milestone, SASK - Most Friday evenings during the winter months the Milestone Memorial Rink is a mecca of activity as usually between 200 - 300 people head into the storied rink.
Some come early.
Some come late.
The visiting team fans come as a group to invade the rink enmasse and then set up their own unofficial cheering section in the stands.
But they’re there to do one thing - to cheer on their favourite team.
They’re there to do something a few decades ago would have drawn snickers or even the odd bit of head shaking and ridicule at the local watering hole or barber shop.
They’re there to cheer on female hockey.
Five bucks will buy you a bag of freshly popped pop corn and a pop at the Milestone Memorial Rink's concession - MJ Independent file photo
Something unheard of a generation or two ago in the many aging shrines of hockey that dot Saskatchewan's rural communities.
But today there is no controversy in most of rural Saskatchewan now - female minor hockey is packing them in.
It’s not a flash in the pan and it's here to stay.
Rink concessions with their traditional fare of greasy rink burgers, fries; onion rings, pop and immense aluminum coffee percolators are doing a booming business.
Albeit the fare offered today includes such atrocities as juice and even salads in some rinks.
And most rink concessions have sadly removed the grease from the burgers and often added a healthier slice of tomato instead.
In the case of the Milestone Memorial Rink's concession they’ve replaced the once store bought patties with locally source ground beef.
It not only showcases a locally produced product but helps an area cattle producer out during tough economic times in that sector.
Milestone Female Flyers assistant coach Darrell Perras (right) speaks to an official. Perras said strong community support for all teams at the Milestone Memorial Rink doesn't come as a surprise- MJ Independent file photo
For Milestone Flyers assistant coach Darrell Perras the support the U18 A Female Flyers receive doesn’t come as a surprise.
It’s all about a small town and local regional support.
“Yes. All of our players and their players and the Milestone community and surrounding communities, because we have girls from all over, they support this team. They support all of our local teams big time.”
“They support all of them big time,” he said.
The Flyers in the last three years have been in a start and stop affair.
Provincial health directives - in an attempt to control the COVID -19 pandemic's progeess - not only restricted hockey but also shut it down all hockey for a time - effectively ending one season.
“There is nothing like Friday night in Milestone. There’s nothing like it."…it’s a special time.”
Milestone U18 A Female Flyers head coach shane Kaufmann on the bench - MJ Independent file photo
Despite the ups and downs of the last three seasons support for the team hasn’t nose-dived in fact the reality is the opposite.
Attendance is up with a crowd less than 150 is called a small crowd.
In urban centres like Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw crowds of 150 are seen only in playoffs. Often late in the playoffs.
Flyers head coach Shane Kauffman points to community support as helping to bring fans in.
On Friday night an area farmer posted a guaranteed 50/50 draw of $1,000.
With the Saskatchewan Female Hockey League not allowing admission to be charged 50/50 draws are the lifeblood to help pay expenses for many teams.
The other is community minded business sponsorships to defer costs.
Moose Jaw Mavericks product Nikita halyk, who played three seasons with the Milestone U18 A Female Flyers, regularly takes the trip from Moose Jaw to Milestone to cheer on her former team - MJ Independent story
“The difference here is we are all from small towns. There are probably eight small towns that put this team together so everybody comes to support. It’s just awesome,” Kaufmann said.
The controversy, that once surrounded females playing hockey, is now long over in rural Saskatchewan.
“That’s such old news,” one of the seniors sitting inside the heated lobby watching the game told MJ Independent about females invading what was seen as a male sport.
In fact rural Saskatchewan, seen as the last great bastion for “backwards” social views - in most cases embraced female hockey long before many Saskatchewan urban centres did.
A male hockey versus female hockey mindset is the furthest thing from both Flyers coaches’ minds.
The great growth in female hockey participation and support is more about the highly entertaining and competitive game that is hitting the ice.
“It’s good for the fans. Its really entertaining hockey,” Balcarres Barracudas head coach Mark Hartman said.
Hartman's Barracudas had just lost a heart breaker 1 - 0 but he saw it as just part of the series.
Hartman has the same attitude as Kaufmann and Perras when it comes to the SFHL's U18 A Southern Division - any team can beat any other team, any night of the week.
No team is to be taken for granted.
Action from Friday evening's game between the Milestone and Balcarres - MJ Independent photo
He pointed to Balcarres taking on the regular season sixth place Wood River Ice Cats in the semi-final.
On paper it should have been easy but in reality it was a hard fought battle similar to what Milestone faced against Gull Lake in their semi - final.
“Us and Milestone we finished one, two but just to get to this point it’s been a struggle for both teams playing teams much lower in the standings and just to struggle to get this far shows us its pretty balanced and competitive.”
It all adds to community and fan support for Balcarres and the league, he said.
“Absolutely (the competitive play brings out fans). We have got a lot of support back home and there are a lot of fans here. And it’s exciting hockey,” Hartman said.
“A bounce here or there it could go either way…it’s definitely exciting hockey,” he said after the Friday night loss in Milestone.
Asked if he would ever dream of seeing hundreds of fans out for a Friday night female hockey game Hartman said he expected it.
“We played Milestone last year in the playoffs and there was a lot of people. There was a lot of noise.”
Overall Hartman said support in the smaller communities for female hockey has been strong and overall good for the game.
He sees the interest as growing the game and more and more smaller communities fielding a team in the future.
“It’s growing every year and it’s great to see.”
“We’ve had great support over the years and Milestone also has too. That’s just testament to the competitiveness and how hard they play and how good it is.”
Hartman classified the support the Barracudas have received back home as appreciated and tremendous.