Local Hockey Team Warms Hearts And Fills Stomachs

Knock Knock, Who's there? 

If you find someone at your door tonight - don't worry! It's just local hockey players doing a good deed!

The Okotoks PeeWee and Midget AA Oilers Black will be walking up and down residential streets in an effort to fill Food Banks shelves this season.

The Midget level AA Oilers Black are at the age where in a few years they'll be moving out and applying for universities so their coaches want them to be equipped with a few really important life lessons, and valuable volunteering experience.

Bob Smith the Team Manager says his goal is to mold good community citizens and good players.

"Those values and so forth to move forward in life are critical. In hockey we all talk about improving skills and everything else." Smith says "I'll quote one of our other coaches and his saying is 'Everyday I'm out there to make good citizens, to make kids better and to make better people for the community.' "

While the teams will try their best to cover as much of Okotoks as they can, they won't be able to make every residence. Smith says he'll definitely cover areas close to the Rec Centre.

"We're not going to be able to get the whole town of Okotoks, but we will have 18 vehicles out there with 2 kids per vehicle, trying to accomplish as many as possible." Smith says "I know we're going to be hitting the areas around the rec centre, Crystal Lake, Drake Landing, Cimarron and the eastern-lying communities. We're going to try to hit as many areas as we can."

For those they might miss or won't be home, you can still participate by dropping off food bank items to a trailer that Smith says will be set up at the Rec Centre.

"We're going to have the trailer with us, and a group that stays at the Rec Centre, in the north corner where you'll see the vehicles there and the trailer. Please by and drop off any kind of food effects, personal items or anything you can donate." Smith adds "If people want to donate money, we'll be giving that directly to the food bank too; What ever you feel you can give, we're going to do the best we can for them."

Currently, both teams are doing well in the standings, the PeeWee while in a growing year are in the middle of the standings, while the Midget Blacks are at the top of the league in their division, playing hard to maintain their first over-all finish from last year.

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