Steinbach Minor Hockey thriving with new fundraiser

The Steinbach Millers are enjoying a strong start to their season.

Scott Reimer, who is the minor hockey board’s coach representative, reported an increase in players this season, with strong fundraising efforts to help cover costs.

This year is the second year minor hockey has gone with a more centralized fundraising plan. Instead of 12 different team fundraisers competing for dollars and attention from the public and sponsors, the organization is running one big raffle. More than 40 businesses have donated prizes or support.

“It’s been an unbelievable amount of support from the community,” Reimer said.

“The players can fundraise up to 90% of their registration… That’s a really big number.”

Each 20$ ticket sold gives $18 to the player. The top prize is $5,000, donated by HyLife, with more than 30 other draws worth $250.

“There’s a lot of barriers to entry in sports, especially hockey which is quite expensive,” Reimer said.

“We’re trying to lower that barrier to entry and create more excitement and registration for this year.”

The group celebrated the move into the Southeast Event Centre with new jerseys and a logo change. Teams had an “M” on the front of their jerseys, recognizing the team’s ‘Millers’ nickname, but will move back to a windmill logo starting this season.

“With a brand new building, we thought ‘let’s get a brand new look,’” Reimer said.

“People were a little bit confused (with the M) if we were Mitchell, or who we we were. We figured we’ve got to tell ‘em who we are… We wanted to use some tradition with some new flavour on it.”

The new building does come with some downsides, as teams no longer get revenue from running a canteen on a volunteer basis. The Steinbach Pistons have stepped up, donating a portion of the team’s 50/50 sales to the group. The donations started last season, with minor hockey getting more than $6,000 from just the few games played in the spring at the new building.

It’s part of an enhanced partnership between minor hockey and the Pistons, which includes player development, attendance at practices and complimentary tickets to visiting teams on tournament weekends.

“The partnership helps us as an association, with a percentage of the proceeds going to offset costs associated with running a minor hockey program here in town,” minor hockey president Josh Plett said in a Pistons news release.

“It’s very generous of the Pistons to assist us in this way, shows the community mindset of the organization. It builds a solid relationship between the organizations as well as the community.”

The raffle closes Oct. 30. Anyone who doesn’t know a player directly fundraising is encouraged to reach out to Reimer via email at coaches.steinbachmh@gmail.com.