World Girls Hockey Weekend event coming to Civic Centre

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This Friday, from 4:30 until 8 p.m., World Girls Hockey Weekend will be celebrated locally with a free on-ice session at the Civic Centre, a meet-and-greet with current AAA Sharks, and some giveaways like Hockey Canada toques and free pizza.

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“We will be connecting with the surrounding community, girls hockey players, plus we have the AAA Sharks involved, who will be helping facilitate the day,” Lehman said. “It’s awesome. [This is] their seventh year and we’re going into our second year of the hockey program, so there’s a lot more years to build and have opportunities for these girls that are playing hockey and being recognized.”

Lehman said there’s a drop in female hockey players after atom and in peewee, for a number of different reasons, and it’s the organization’s goal to get girls to keep playing.

Ideally, they will be the feeder system for the Sharks program in the Battlefords.

“I thought there was a need for a support system for the girls, to have a choice and create comradery and work towards having their own female hockey team,” Lehman said. “We can support and create these prospects for the AAA Sharks because there’s going to be a big gap where we won’t have many girls in bantam and midget to feed into the AAA Sharks.

“I want to build that and we have to start from a young [age].”

According to Hockey Canada, the purpose of World Girls Hockey Weekend is to celebrate and grow the female game from coast to coast and unite Canadians through grassroots programming.

That is exactly what BFH is all about.

“I grew up with [Canadian Olympian] Fiona Smith-Bell,” Lehman said. “She was an icon for me when I played hockey. I got to see her inducted into the Hall of Fame. I knew her growing up so [we want to] create these inspirational role models and just keep the legacy alive.

“I just am all about girl power and giving these girls confidence as humans and as hockey players.”

The on-ice portion of Friday’s event will run from 5:15 p.m. until 6:15, which will be followed by off-ice games and leadership activities, plus pizza.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11