Volunteer blitz begins ahead of long-awaited Esso Cup

“Our business supporters have been there from day one,” said Wildey. “When it comes to sponsorship, financial, whatever, the support from them has been great. Volunteers, in the previous event we had a lot of sign-up so we’re looking forward to that today.”

A campaign to bring in more volunteers begins tonight, and with six teams and dozens of games to play, they’ll need quite a few.

“We would need about 120 to 150,” said Wildey. “They’re starting to trickle in right now so we’re not too sure where we’re at. We’re looking for maybe three shifts, three games out of the whole entire week.”

From an on-ice perspective, longtime members of the Northern Bears have been looking forward to this tournament for years. They played in it last season, officially listed as the host team even though the games were played in Okotoks. Now they get to be the host team in their home rink.

“It’s so exciting,” said Brooke Archer, a third-year goaltender with the Northern Bears. “A lot of the third years came here for the reason that we were hosting Esso Cup and we were going to get something so big somewhere so close to home. It’s really exciting to get it at our hometown rink.”

The Esso Cup is played between the host team and five regional champions from across the country. As the Northern Bears found out last year, this means a high level of competition.

“Last year, we went there knowing the teams were going to be tough,” Archer said. “If you look at our games, they were amazing teams. Just the competitive level of all the teams were way higher than what you’d face in some of the games in our own league.”

The last of the participating teams should be decided by Apr. 17.

Meanwhile, the volunteer drive is happening on Apr. 4 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP

by Rob Mahon

Volunteer blitz begins ahead of long-awaited Esso Cup

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