2025 Alberta Ice Make Some Waves in California

January 28, 2025

AMRHA and the Alberta Roller Hockey High Performance Committee (AHPC) have been talking about an Alberta winter program for many years. We never knew when it was going to happen, always something we talked about. Narch and State Wars have run Winter season California tournaments for a number of years, the time never seemed right for Alberta to make the leap. Finally in November 2024 AHPC pulled the trigger. We sent out a survey to a few hundred athletes around Alberta. We received very good feedback and a lot of people interested in the next steps. That is when the Alberta Ice Roller Hockey Program was born. 

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The Ice teams were selected based on players' past performance in the sport. The teams were formed and the training camps were scheduled for the first week of January in Edmonton. Plans were now made for players and parents to travel to California in January to participate in Narch WinterNationals. 

Two teams were sent to represent Alberta, one in the 14 and Under Age Division one in the 16 and Under Age Division. Both age groups had very tough competition facing ten teams in each. The 14 Under Team made it to the playoffs in Gold Division, finishing 4th. The 16 Under Team competed in the Platinum Division, finishing with a 4th place also.

2025 was the first year of the program and we finished with a successful showing for both teams. Even though the teams did not finish with medals this year, the players and parents had very positive things to say about the organization, competition and the overall experience. The friendships formed and exciting competition will be remembered for years to come.

Personally, it was an absolute pleasure to be involved with both teams of talented young roller hockey players and their supportive parents.

I am looking forward to the next step for the Alberta Ice program and the exciting future ahead!

Aaron Leisman