ESTERHAZY — Fans of senior hockey in Esterhazy get ready—the Flyers are back! Entering the Sask East Hockey League for the 2024-25 season, the Esterhazy Flyers have a few hours of practices under their belts and are looking forward to a mid-November home opener.
“We talked to a lot of guys last year, and then obviously we got denied into the league last year,” explained Flyers’ assistant coach Mike Kaczmar. “So we had some talks with players from last year, and that just carried over into this year. So that part helped, but there’s still other players that we have to talk to and deal with and try to get to come our way and whatnot. So we got a much earlier start this season on looking for players.”
So far from those few practices, Kaczmar is impressed with the on-ice talent on tap for this re-entry season.
“Most of them are fairly young, so they’re not out of shape too badly,” he said. “They’ve been doing well. We had a very intense practice last night, start to finish; there’s lots of skating and puck movement. The coach has them going in the right direction. We’re ready for Game One.”
That Game One is going to be a big night over at the Dana Antal Arena in Esterhazy, when the Flyers play host to the Cote Selects, who finished in seventh place as last year’s regular season closed.
“It’ll be a packed house, we’re hoping and get the season started right,” Kaczmar said. “The fans are excited; the fans have been waiting for this for years.”
The puck drops at 8 pm on Nov. 15, beginning with a tribute to local hockey legend Donny Halyk, who passed away on June 14.
“He’s a pretty big reason why Esterhazy has senior hockey, that’s because of Donny,” Kaczmar said.
Pandemic hit team hard
As with so many facets of life in general, the 2020 season would turn out to be the last time Esterhazy Flyers would take to the ice. The once mighty force to be reckoned with that amassed numerous Triangle Hockey League championships seemed to tumble, navigating the same choppy waters that other teams fell victim to.
A desperate plea went out in the fall of 2021, seeking not only players, but a manager to direct the organization.
“That hurt things a lot,” Kaczmar said. “It hurt a lot of sports.”
The season cancellation due to Covid had a far-reaching effect on the Flyers, and nobody was quite sure when the team would return.
“There’s some guys you rely on that are near the end of their career, so to speak,” Kaczmar explained of that time. “They’re getting up in age, and you know if they’d have had hockey in say 2020, 2021, maybe even 2022, they’d still be able to play. But now it’s four years later—it’s hard to get going again, especially when you’re older.”
In fact, the pandemic dealt such a blow to senior-level hockey that the THL itself was shuttered. Even when a brief salvation appeared on the horizon with the formation of the SEHL, the Flyers were only able to play a handful of games before the global bug cancelled hockey that season for good.
The season ahead
This year, the SEHL boasts 10 teams with the Flyers in the south division along with the Churchbridge Imperials, Langenburg Warriors, Rocanville Tigers, and Wapella Blackhawks.
The biggest challenge has been rounding up enough talent to post a team, something of a delicate balance in a few aspects.
“We’ve been working on this for a month now,” Kaczmar said. “You can ask guys all you want two months ago, and they say, ‘yeah, they’re interested’, but that means nothing until they actually step on the ice. There’s guys that shop themselves around, and I don’t blame them. For me, I’d always play for my hometown. It wouldn’t even be about money, it’d be just playing for my hometown. Then there’s guys that they don’t have hockey in their hometown, so they get to shop themselves around.”
It’s going to be a fast season with 14 games in total for each team, something that Kaczmar admits “is not a lot, but it’s in a working man’s league.”
“I don’t think it’s all that bad, it’s hard to get players all the time, and you got shift work and maybe even a few injuries and whatnot,” he said.
All told, this year’s version of the Flyers has about half local names on the jerseys—not bad at all, considering the challenges in filling a roster.
“We had more last year when we never got accepted, but we had some of those guys also that have come up with injuries and are just older and aren’t going to play now,” Kaczmar said.
The term ‘local’ had to expand for new players, grabbing guys from a little further radius than usual.
“We pulled from Round Lake and Stockholm, which their closest team is us,” Kaczmar explained. “Call them locals or not, but I think Stockholm you can call a local player.”
As for those players from farther away, attracting imports just seems to be the nature of the beast these days.
“If you don’t bring in players—and obviously you have to pay for some of them to come your way—if you don’t, you’re not going to be competitive, or you’re not going to have a team,” Kaczmar stated. “It’s sad that it’s gone this way, but hopefully it’ll get reined back in next year a little bit. Teams can’t afford to keep going paying for players—a little bit of money, sure, but a lot of money? Everything’s so expensive now with four referees and the ice rental is ridiculously expensive.”
One team that will be tough to beat are the Tigers from down the road in Rocanville. The powerhouse Tigers have ascended to the playoffs three years in a row, claiming the Emile Balogh Trophy twice in that time.
“I think they’re always a threat,” admitted Kaczmar. “They’re working on trying to get some players still. Every year, you always hear something about Rocanville, and then they end up winning the league! So I think they’re going to be probably a very tough team again.”
As for the Flyers’ re-entry into the SEHL, Kaczmar would be happy with an average year.
“I think we’re hoping to be in the middle of the pack, very competitive in the middle of the pack,” he said. “So I think we should be fine.”
