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Town of Viking Welcomes Junior A Hockey Team

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

Officials with the Town of Viking welcomed Mike and Sam Renner to the community on May 26.

Deputy Mayor James Buttner said having the Northern Alberta Lightning Junior A hockey team playing out of the Carena starting in the 2023-24 season is absolutely fantastic. “It’s an amazing opportunity for us.” Buttner said he’s “super pumped” and can envision other opportunities coming out of this new partnership.

Mike Renner has played and coached hockey most of his life. He and his wife Sam are currently part-owners of the Pacific Canadians AAA Hockey Club based out of Port Coquitlam, BC. Mike founded the Pacific Canadians in 2013.

The Pacific Canadians are an elite-level skills based that specializes in high performance training and skill development for all ages of inspiring athletes during the regular season and early summer months. Along with elite skill development, the focus is on excellence and character development on and off the ice.

Mike said when he coached junior hockey that community service was a big component of that affiliation. He already has some ideas on how to partner in the community of Viking as well as possibly offer some elite level training to athletes who otherwise would have to go to larger centres for that.

Viking Deputy Mayor James Buttner shakes hands with Mike Renner to officially welcome him and his wife Sam to town.

“Viking has been very accommodating,” said Mike. While they looked at a few other communities when selecting a site for the team, Sam said, “They, (other communities) didn’t get the sense of what we wanted to truly do for the kids.”

Mike said they wanted more than an ice agreement. They wanted a partnership agreement and that is exactly what they got with the Town of Viking, inking a three year contract.

The team will be part of the Canadian-American Junior Hockey League, (CAJHL) which is headed by President Bryan Brown, who is also the General Manager of the Vegreville Vipers. Mike said Bryan contacted him about a year and a half ago about the possibility of having a franchise. Mike said he wanted to wait a year to see how things played out with the CAJHL. “The quality of play was much better than other leagues and I talked to Bryan about a franchise.”

Brown said, “As President of the CAJHL, we are very excited to have the Renner family join our league. They will be great competition for us, as Mike runs a fantastic program and is very competitive. With the new teams joining our thriving league, and not being part of Hockey Canada, the future is definitely going to be beneficial for our league; even more now that BCHL has made its announcement of their league leaving Hockey Canada.”

Even though Mike and Sam live in Port Coquitlam, BC; Mike will be living full time in Viking during the season. Sam said she and their three children will come out to visit whenever possible.

Mike said there won’t be ice in the Carena until the end of July, so he will be running a couple of prospect camps in Edmonton prior to that. He plans to run the main training camp the last week of August before holding a few exhibition games.

A handful of players have already signed on with the team and Mike has talked to several more players already and is more than ready to bring his special brand of hockey to Viking. Mike said he is currently looking for billet families if anyone is interested in taking on that role.

Vegreville Football Association Offering Local Youth Opportunity to Learn the Sport

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Volunteers with the Vegreville Football Association, (VFA) are giving local youth between the ages of 11 and 15 years of age the opportunity to learn the sport.

They are hoping to field one pee wee and one bantam team to play tackle football early this fall. To that end they have been holding practices for the past month to give kids a chance to come out and see if this is something that would be of interest to them.

Head Coach Roy Koop moved to Vegreville 10 months ago. He previously coached in Ardrossan and Leduc before moving to town. He said a handful of kids who’ve come out to practice have played before, but that experience is not a requirement to join.

From left to right: Assistant Coach Chase Weleschuk, Assistant Coach Caleb Rova and Head Coach Roy Koop.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Koop is encouraged as, “A lot of kids have put in a good effort,” during practices. They have been working on the basics of footwork, blocking and tackling since they began practicing four weeks ago.

Secretary-Treasurer Tara Dumont said the regular season doesn’t start until late August, so there is still time to sign up. The teams will be mixed. The pee wee team will be comprised of 11 and 12-yearolds and bantam will be comprised of 13 to 15-year-olds. Dumont noted that they can’t be entering Grade 10 at the time of registration.

Coach Koop is hoping to have 16 players per team. If they meet that requirement, they will be playing in the Capital District Minor Football Association playing their games in the Edmonton area.

Players going through drills.

(Michelle Pinon/Photo)