MOOSOMIN — The Moosomin Steelhawks continue to prepare for their first hockey season, marking the first time in 50 years that a junior hockey club has played in Moosomin.
“That’s a really exciting way to put it,” said Steelhawks owner, general manager, and head coach Blake Martyniuk. “According to our research, it’s been about a half-century since there’s been junior hockey in the community, and the goal—with this done properly—we hope that we can exceed that amount of time with this existing team as opposed to the community being without a junior team for that long.”
News of an expansion team coming to the Prairie Junior Hockey League, and that team calling Moosomin home, came back in April with the PJHL splitting a dozen teams between the Bob Dybvig and Bill Johnston (where the Steelhawks will be) Divisions. The Junior B league is filled with talent, and in the days leading up to teams hitting the ice in exhibition contests, everyone is dreaming of yanking the Keystone Cup out of Fort Knox’s grasp.
But first, Moosomin needs a solid team, and filling a roster will be ongoing well after conditioning camp.
“We have a team, but we’re always trying to be the best team that we can be, hence, the recruiting really never stops until the roster closes, which I believe is the 10th of January,” Martyniuk said, adding that transaction decisions in the other Saskatchewan leagues could present options for the PJHL teams. “The WHL, if they cut players, then they’re going to the SJHL, and if the SJHL drops guys, and we’re able to get them to make ourselves better, then that’s what we just have to do at the junior level.”
The Steelhawks roster could be filled with players from across North America in addition to local talent.
“We’re actually allowed U.S. or Mexican-born players; as long as they’re North American, they would qualify,” Martyniuk explained, adding that a Mexican Steelhawk is not out of the question. “We may end up with a player from Mexico; those discussions are happening. Having played for the national team down there, we would be in good hands if we landed one of those guys.”
The team is allowed up to six players from within North America, and while most teams in the PJHL draft players from the area, it’s not mandatory to do so.
“In this particular league at the junior level, that’s not always the case,” Martyniuk said. “Obviously, with senior hockey, you kind of need to hit those quotas, but with us, it’s more or less a choice. We want local players and local talent, but anyone we’ve talked to certainly understands that in order to be competitive on a provincial and eventually on a western Canadian scale, we definitely will need more players than just local players, and again, always trying to build the best team we possibly can.
“Our active roster can be a total of 25 players,” Martyniuk continued. “Injuries happen, suspensions, guys get called up to Junior A, somebody’s sick—there’s a reason that you definitely need to carry more than just the limited quota just for variables that come up along the way.”
Billets, volunteers, sponsors needed
Building a new team requires a lot of moving parts and community support. The Steelhawks are putting the call out to locals for support in terms of finding billets, volunteers and sponsors.
“I had a conversation with a family last night and was very thankful for them and anyone else that is willing to open up their homes for one of our hockey players,” Martyniuk said. “We are always looking for more billets, and volunteers are going to be a big one as well. We’re going to have a meeting in the next week or so, branded as an open house, where we can essentially invite anyone in from the community that wants to come, say hello or wants to inquire about certain volunteer spots that we might need help with.
“As soon as we have that info, we’ll post that on our social media and try to reach out to as many people as we can,” Martyniuk said.
Another area where the new team could use some help is in the local labour market, as the players will be looking for work during their off-ice hours.
“A few employers in the community— quite a few, actually—have said that they’d be willing to give our players some hours and work around hockey, so anybody that owns a small business or might need a part-time employee, please have them reach out as well because that just helps give them that spending money, and I think strengthens the program,” Martyniuk said.
“In order to make this sustainable to exceed the 50-year drought that the community has been without junior hockey, we need the community support on the sponsorship end as well. We definitely see that coming together, once the recruiting slows down a bit here in the next week or so, we are hoping to ramp up those conversations. Any bit of help is very much appreciated and ultimately necessary to help keep this going here.”
Later start to the season
The first exhibition games in the PJHL began September 7, but the Steelhawks won’t hit the ice until the first week of October, when the regular season is already in full swing. Meanwhile, the team will be busy with preparations to launch into their inaugural season in full force. They’ll start with a pair of away games in Assiniboia to take on the Richardson Pioneer Southern Rebels, who finished last season with 12 wins, 27 losses, and one loss in overtime and second-last place in the league.
“We will actually start our regular season a week after some of the other teams; they’ll get going the last Friday of September, whereas we get going the first Friday of October down in Assiniboia,” Martyniuk said. “The reason behind that is we actually have a total of 18 practices starting September 15, and we are quite literally on the ice for two hours every single day before that first actual regular season game. Getting on the ice, working really hard, and putting some good systems in play will help us have our best chance with our expansion roster to try to have the most success that we can.”
In a way, having those first two Steelhawks games played in Assiniboia is a bit nostalgic for Martyniuk as he wore a senior Rebels jersey in the 2021-22 season— just before the team began playing in their new home, the $18 million ‘belle of the ball’ Southland Co-op Centre.
“We have a pretty nice rink ourselves here in Moosomin, but the fact that they got the Southland Co-op Centre down there in Assiniboia, a brand new, beautiful facility, it’s a pretty cool way to kick off our inaugural season in what I would say to be the—no disrespect again to the other teams—but the nicest rink in the league!”
Assiniboia was the first taste of Saskatchewan hockey for Martyniuk, who was part of the senior Rebels team that continued a Notekeu Hockey League championship reign initiated in 2018-19 and only interrupted for the 2020-21 season cancellation due to COVID.
“I think we were the last year in the old barn there, before they got the new one,” he recalled. “But even the old one, too, it had a lot of character to it, and it’s a good atmosphere as well. But, you can’t really compare to what they got going on there now, that’s for sure!”
After the two-game stint in Assiniboia on Oct. 3 and 4, the Steelhawks head to the Queen City on Oct. 9 to face the Regina Silver Foxes. The Steelhawks will have their home opener in Moosomin on Friday, Oct. 10, when the Rebels come to the Mike Schwean Arena. The next evening will feature a second home game as the current PJHL champs, Fort Knox, comes to town. The puck drops on both nights at 8 p.m.
