Junior Hockey

Admin Sat Nov 01, 2008 8:48 pm

I’ve been a fan of Vees Junior A hockey for some time now, volunteering for the team last season and working for the office (computers issues), for several years. However, the recent change in venue to the SOEC with it’s ‘special-area’ parking, restaurants that one cannot enter without elevated seating status, eight dollar beer and cavernous feel, has turned me off enough that I made a trip to Summerland last night in order to attend my first Summerland Sting Junior B hockey game.

Junior B, as the name implies, is a notch down from the Junior A Penticton Vees as far as speed and skill is concerned, yet it turns out that the kids really play their collective hearts out on the ice. The Summerland arena is a lot more along the lines of a traditional rink that most of us grew up in or around, parking is a free-for-all and drinks don’t cost as much as a cappuccino in the South of France! The place had a lot more of a ‘family-feel’, and I felt immediately comfortable in this old-school environment. Sure the SOEC might have a hell of a lot more ‘flash and dance to it’, and the Junior A Vees definitely display better skating and puck-handling skills, but in the end, I just felt much more welcome and part of the groove in this small-town ‘classic’ arena.

The new arena will be great for special events like rock concerts and the such, but personally-speaking, it just didn’t ‘do it’ for me as a junior ice-hockey venue; the food & beverage prices were pocket-mining, as were game-day tickets. The uber-corporate aura to the place made me feel that my purchases were simply a necessity in the Global-Spectrum financial plan.

Pop over and check out the next Summerland Sting hockey game and you’ll see exactly what I mean by the down-home feel of the place. Bring a butt-pad and plunk yourself down on the wooden bleachers, positioning yourself mid-sections to bask in the glow of the vintage radiant heaters. No matter where you sit, you’ll still be close to ice-level action, comfortably ensconced within a crowd of like-minded fans.

Check em’ out!

Andrew D.

http://www.kijhl.ca/leagues/stats_1team.cfm?leagueID=5221&teamID=174090&clientID=2223