Santa joins up with kids' hockey school for some holiday fun

Santa made an appearance at Bourkevale Community Centre over the holidays to take in some ice time with our kids' hockey school. Apparently ol' St. Nick was pretty good in net.

Rinks open early this year

Rinks
Bourkevale's ice rinks opened almost a week earlier than last year. And last year's opening date was a modern-day record. The north and south rinks typically open during the first week of December. But this year, the club officially opened the rinks to the public on Nov. 23. A sustained blast of cold air in November allowed our volunteer ice makers to get an early start on flooding the rinks.

Ice Volunteers
Bourkevale needs volunteers to help clear the ice when there are heavy snowfalls. If you can spare an hour or two from time to time to pitch in, please email us at bourkevale@gmail.com and we'll put your name on our volunteer list. You don't have to come out every time it snows. But if you can help out a few times during the season, it will help take the burden off the same few volunteers who do it every time it snows. We only need two or three volunteers to clear snow at a time. Without volunteers, we would not be able to provide the community with the quality and availability of ice rinks that we do.

Email
Sign up for Bourkevale's email updates. If you want timely updates on what's happening at the club, send an email to sburd@mymts.net and we'll put you on the list. You can also sign up for our website email notifications by entering your email to the box on the right. Also, visit this website frequently for all your club information and updates.

One of the best Hoedowns ever!

There's no doubt about it - it was a good one. Hoedown 2014 will go down in the books as one of the best in recent years, with great weather, excellent turn-out and smashing live entertainment from local original artists Roger Roger.
The food was great, the beverages were flowing and the kids were never left without something fun to do, from games, bouncers, a gymnastics exhibition, live animals in the skate room (did you see that snake?), the soccer medal award ceremony and of course St. James' best annual fireworks display.
The main reason this Hoedown was one of the best in many years, though, was because of the phenomenal participation of families and local residents. We had one of the best volunteer turn-outs in years, which makes all the difference for these events. A great time was had by all. Please check out our Hoedown Photo Gallery here for some of the images we caught during the day.

Soccer winds down for the season

Bourkevale Bruins had a great season this year. They learned a lot about soccer and mostly, they had plenty of fun. Big thanks to the coaches!

Bourkevale's mini soccer season wrapped up June 26 after another another fun and exciting year. Bourkevale hosted several teams in 2014 and there was plenty of activity on the club's well-groomed soccer fields weekday evenings. Our volunteer ground crew did an exceptional job again maintaining the fields, including grass cutting, weed control and line painting. Without them, and our volunteer coaches and soccer convenor, Bourkevale would not have a soccer program. So remember parents, without your participation, there is no soccer!

Brighter nights ahead for south rink

New LED lights went up on the south rink this week.

Bourkevale Community Centre has installed new lights on the south rink, part of a complete overhaul to the club's lighting system this year which is expected to cut energy costs by 40%. New LED lights were installed this week to replace the old street-lamp style lamps that have illuminated the south rink for decades. The sleek, square-shaped LED lights will only use a fraction of the electricity the old lamps consumed and are expected to emit more even lighting. Bourkevale has upgraded all of its lighting, indoor and out, which was funded by a City of Winnipeg Community Centre Renovation Fund grant.

New lights will use a fraction of electricity of old lamps.

Old lamps served the south rink well 

Bourkevale sets new ice rink record

Bourkevale's ice rinks and skate room set another record this year. Our south rink was open until March 31 in 2014, beating out the previous modern-day record of March 23 set the previous year. The colder-than-average weather allowed the club to open the ice relatively early this season, on Nov. 27. As a result, the rinks were open four straight months, about a month longer than usual.
Meanwhile, Old Man Winter not only brought us record-setting cold temperatures and bone-chilling windchills this season, he also saddled us with frequent and heavy snowfalls, all of which made the business of ice-making and rink maintenance extremely challenging. We'd like to thank our volunteer ice makers Jeff Valgardson and Ron Templeton for their herculean efforts in keeping our rinks clear and in great shape — uninterrupted — for the entire season. Also, a special thanks to Scotty Nystrom and others who helped out with the rinks this year.

Bourkevale hockey school wraps up

Bourkevale's hockey school for kids wrapped up this month with an extended ice season, thanks to cooler than normal weather. The program's inaugural season was a great success, with kids aged 6 to 10 receiving instruction in the fundamentals of hockey, including skating, passing and puck control. The program's success was due in part to the number of parents who helped with instruction on ice, even during some of the colder days. The kids enhanced their hockey skills throughout the season and mostly had a lot of fun, including a wind-up at the end of the season.

Leafs win Apuckalypse Now Cup

Apuckalypse Now returned to Bourkevale for its Third Annual Hockey Tournament Feb. 8. Organizers, a live play-by-play announcer, referees and six teams — this year naming themselves after the NHL's "original six" clubs — braved the frigid temperatures as players vied for the honour of winning the Apuckalypse Now Cup.
Friends, family and kids cheered on their teams and packed the skate room to take in an afternoon Winnipeg Jets game on the club's new HD TV. The tournament began Saturday morning and teams played well into the evening under the lights on the club's north rink. After a spirited final matchup against the Rangers, the Maple Leafs won The Apuckalypse Now Cup in a 3-1 victory.

Day care kids help Bourkevale prep for skating season

You might be surprised at how much work goes into getting Bourkevale's ice rinks ready for the winter season. Boards need to be replaced, equipment like the club's tractor and snowblower must be serviced and hoses have to be inspected.
Most importantly, though — to ensure our rinks are in tip-top shape and ready for a season of skating — the boards around both rinks must be painted. That's where the kids from Assiniboine Children's Centre came in this season. The children spent a good part of a day in August painting the boards white. And they did a superb job. The boards have never looked so good. A big thanks to all the children and staff at Assiniboine Children's Centre for their outstanding effort on this project. The Bourkevale community thanks you.

Digging out during heavy snowfall season

Our volunteer ice crew was up early Saturday morning Jan. 4 getting the ice ready after a massive snow dump Friday.