Happy New Year, SWAT families!

As we say hello to 2024 – and the second half of our hockey season – there are many things we can look forward to celebrating!

Coming up in mid-January, our SWAT teams in U-9 to U-13 will participate in Edmonton Minor Hockey Week. 2024 marks the 60th year of the City-wide tournament, which runs from Jan. 12 to 21, and celebrates one of the biggest and longest-running minor hockey week tournaments in the world! I look forward to catching a few games and cheering on our SWAT teams.

In March, SWAT will host its end-of-year hockey tournament, the SWAT Ice Melter. This tournament is for U-11 and U-13 teams and is a great way to end the season. Team managers will have registration information for interested teams.

There will also be a second U-7 Jamboree, numerous other tournaments, and City-wide play offs for teams to look forward to in the coming months!

In the near future, we will be sharing information on new events and opportunities, including coach and player development opportunities, a renewed commitment on goalie development and an epic year-end party at the West Edmonton Mall World Waterpark! Keep an eye on your inbox, our Facebook and Instagram pages and our website for the latest news.

2023 SWAT highlights

As we celebrate the new year, it’s also the perfect time to share some highlights from 2023, which really do prove that hockey life is the best life!

  • SW407 won Minor Hockey Week in January 2023.
  • City champions: SWAT Royals won U-13 Tier 2; SW505 Bearpack won U-13 Tier 3; and SW402 Thunderbirds won U-11 Tier 1 Blue.
  • Celebrated the 25th anniversary of the SWAT Ice Melter hockey tournament in March with lots of fun. Four SWAT teams won their division: SW501 Blazers, SW505 Bearpack, SW406 Tiger Sharks and SW506 Yetis.
  • Hosted a sold-out golf tournament, the Sentinel Storage Ice Maker, in August.
  • Secured ongoing major sponsorships with Sentinel Storage and Canadian Brewhouse.
  • Celebrated SWAT Minor Hockey Night at the Oil Kings game in December, with many teams taking on special roles during the game.
  • Piloted a new third-party evaluation system for U-13 and U-11 teams in the 2023-24 evaluation process.
  • Welcomed many new families to the SWAT community and many new individuals to our volunteer group.
  • Registered 1,173 athletes and 300 coaches/bench parents for the 2023-24 season.
  • Our U-7 teams participated in a fun-filled jamboree in December.
  • Offered numerous development opportunities, including new U-9 goalie development opportunities.

SWAT volunteers

SWAT is a volunteer-run organization and we know we have many talented parents, grandparents and friends in our community. In addition to team coaches and managers, we are always looking for volunteers to participate in committees, run events, assist with fundraising, support our coaches and more. If you think you can help out, please fill out our contact form or reach out to me directly at president@swat.ca.

See you on the ice in 2024,

Stephen Avivi
Posted in News