Central Butte Senior A team suspends season due to lack of players

After decades in operation, a Saskatchewan Senior A hockey team has been forced to call it quits for the season.

Central Butte Flyers of the Saskatchewan Valley Hockey League announced on Friday that the team will not be playing out the remainder of its season due to a lack of players.

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“It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce our hockey club will be taking a leave of absence effective immediately,” a statement shared on social media read.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances with the number of players we have going forward, we have decided we will not be playing the rest of the season.”

According to Flyers president Josh Houseman, the problem with retaining players started early on.

“I think we got in a position where we were short a few players off the start. We lost about six of our core guys at the start of this year, and then kind of just spiraled from there. We were going to end up having to play with, I think, nine players for the next four games, and then the most we were going to have through the season was 12,” Houseman explained.

“The guys just kind of decided that wasn’t feasible for the season, so they decided this was the best course of action. We kind of left it up the players to decide if they could make it work, and they didn’t feel like they could.”

Senior A hockey operates differently than most leagues across Canada.

For starters, the league is made up of players who used to play high levels of hockey like AA, AAA, WHL, SJHL and university-level hockey.

Most who choose to keep playing it do it for the love of the game, but they don’t have as much flexibility as they did when they were younger.

A majority of the players in the league work full-time jobs or go to school, and many have families. That means players sometimes have to make big sacrifices to make things work, and there’s a lot of travel involved.

After the departure of the Flyers, the Saskatchewan Valley Hockey League will consist of of 10 teams: The Craik Warriors, Davidson Cyclones, Delisle Bruins, Dinsmore Dynamos, Eston Ramblers, Kenaston Blizzards, Kyle Elks, Loreburn 19ers, Lucky Lake Lakers and Outlook Ice Hawks.

“I think it’s becoming more and more normal for communities of our size. We have less and less access to players, especially local players. We don’t have much minor hockey left these days, and it’s really hard to draw people in when you don’t have that core,” Houseman said.

“It’s becoming harder and harder for towns of our size to be sustainable and compete with some of the other teams – a big financial obligation as well. That’s tough to fulfill for teams like us.”

According to Houseman, the problem the Flyers faced this season isn’t unique to them, and other teams throughout the league and country are facing the same issue.

“We’ve seen lots (of teams) fold in the last five to 10 years, just because they can’t make it work anymore,” Houseman explained. “I think there’s a lot of teams that are actually in the same position as we are. I think it’s a growing problem around the province.”

Houseman admitted that pulling the plug on the season will be “a real blow” for the community, as it’s the only time since the COVID-19 pandemic the team hasn’t been able to play out a season.

“It’s a small town. Everybody congregates at the rink, and it’s been a big part of the history for a long time there. There’s never not been a senior hockey team here,” Houseman said.

But while the Flyers won’t be fielding a team for the remainder of the season, Houseman said he hopes the organization will be able to return to the ice when the next season gets underway.

“Hopefully we can piece it together for next year and this is just temporary,” he said. “It’s harder and harder to find guys to commit and keep it going, but we’re going to do our best.”