STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
Photo from the Grande Prairie Minor Hockey Facebook page.
By Curtis Galbraith
Local Hockey

LeBlanc marks 25 years at Grande Prairie Minor Hockey

Jan 14, 2021 | 6:00 AM

The executive director at Grande Prairie Minor Hockey says all the attention lately is overwhelming but very much appreciated.

Grande Prairie Minor Hockey recently put up a Facebook post saluting Lorna LeBlanc for her time with the organization.

“It has made me feel very, very humbled that so many people have sent very nice well-wishes and words of appreciation, so that’s been pretty amazing. And, connecting with a lot of people that I haven’t heard from or seen in a lot of years. It just shows you how close the hockey community is.”

LeBlanc says a lot of the kids who were players when she started are no parents with their own kids in minor hockey.

“We actually have, I think, a couple of families that are three generations who are active in minor hockey this year or would be except for the COVID. We were looking at some of the old yearbooks and (were) just amazed at how many Bantam and Midget players there were when I started who are back here now with their own children, they’re coaching their own children.”

The Grande Prairie Minor Hockey office was in the Dave Barr arena when LeBlanc first started and has been in the Coca Cola Centre for several years.

“We used to have a little office in the Dave Barr Arena. We used to actually run the Dave Barr Arena up until the time that we moved in 2003. It was a small office. We also ran the concession and the pro shop. When we moved in here, it was (an) absolute(ly) big spacious building. I think the ceilings are maybe a couple feet higher.”

LeBlanc says other changes include the age change when kids started playing as 5-year-olds. This meant 15-year-olds moved up to the same grouping as 16-and-17-year olds. There have also been several changes to what age groups allow bodychecking and adding the option of no-hit hockey in all age groups.

by Curtis Galbraith