Students and staff at École St. Thomas Elementary in Lloydminster recently participated in a friendly game of floor hockey with the local U18 AAA PWM Steelers.
The event aimed to promote the upcoming Esso Cup and encourage female sports participation.
“We are having a friendly floor hockey game against our local U18 AAA PWM Steelers to promote their upcoming national hockey tournament. They are hosting it here in Lloyd in April,” said Rachel Jazowski, a teacher at St. Thomas. “We also want to help develop and promote female sport.”
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The Esso Cup is Canada’s Women’s U18 National Club Championship. It will take place from April 20-26 at the Centennial Civic Centre in Lloydminster. The tournament will feature the Steelers and five regional champions competing for the national title.
Jazowski highlighted the benefits for students attending the event.
“I think the students are going to enjoy seeing their teachers just being out there and having fun and being regular people,” she said. “I think the athletes are really going to enjoy coming back into the school and seeing the motivation and excitement on the kids’ faces.”
Promoting women’s sports remains a key focus.
“We want to encourage a lot of our younger generation to keep active and we really want to ensure we have healthy students coming out of our schools and in our community,” said Jazowski.
The school emphasizes physical activity and keeping active.
“Yes, we take active play very seriously,” said Jazowski. “Our students are encouraged to be active when they’re out on the playground and we have daily phys ed classes for our students as well.”
Dan Auchenburg, head coach of the Steelers, says the Esso cup is a chance to share.
“We’re coming to represent the Esso Cup and women’s hockey and share our wealth and knowledge a little bit,” he said, noting female hockey has seen major growth in Lloydminster in recent years.
Auchenburg also emphasized the importance of community engagement.
“Our goal is to have fun, give back to the community and spending time with kids at school,” he said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
The final score was 4-2 for the Steelers, who have participated in a handful of such floor hockey events ahead of the Esso Cup.
Tickets for the tournament are available online at Hockey Canada.
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