BY Jonathan Huntington
SASKATOON – The Yorkton Kinsmen Maulers are in the middle of a major rebuilding campaign – both on and off the ice.
While the club is still searching for its first victory on the ice (winless in six games entering the weekend), the changes behind the scenes are very impressive.
“The game continues to evolve, and so do the expectations of what it takes to build a successful program. We recognized that creating the right environment was an important step toward building the future we envisioned for the Maulers,” said general manager Jeremy Palanuik.
Thanks to NL Construction, the team now has a new dressing room.
“It was time for a new space that reflected our commitment to excellence, our vision for the program and the culture we want to establish moving forward,” continued the GM.
“The (room) features new stalls, flooring, lighting, sounds system and a 70-inch TV for video sessions. The outcome has us having a new state of the art dressing room that has a pro hockey feel.”
The club has made further changes and added more amenities for the players. “We’ve added a strength and condition program every morning… (and added) home and away gloves and helmets,” added Palanuik.
Fans are also seeing a difference on game-nights, as admission is now free to all home games. “Something that is missing with the U18 AAA hockey is people in the stands. We have the best league in North America. We wanted to try something different to try and get more fans out to the rink this year,” explained the GM.
“With offering free admission this allows families to come and watch the future stars of the game for free. Thru three home games this year we have averaged 450 fans per game so far. With free admission, 50/50 sales have gone up with having more people in the stands.”
Now the team needs to find the win column in the standings. “With only five returning kids from last year’s team we looked at building for a sustainable program going forward,” said Palanuik. ”
“We knew we had to go younger this year to build the program back up. We added six 2011 (born-players) and seven 2010 (born players) to help build for the years to come.”
