North Hastings Community Centre is the venue Saturday for the first-ever Girls Hockey Day, hosted by the Bancroft Jets.
A minor hockey day has been held for several years, but the Bancroft District Minor Hockey Association and the Bancroft Jets Girls Hockey Association are working together to showcase every team in town.
James Forde, a volunteer with both associations, said the goal is to celebrate local hockey and local kids, creating an event where everyone feels valued.
It also serves as a fundraiser to help keep registration costs down—an increasingly important effort following the town’s introduction of a $400 user fee for out-of-area players.
Forde said hockey is expensive locally, partially because each team needs to travel to play road games. He added every hockey player of any age living outside of the town limits is required to pay the $400 user fee to play in any league, minor or adult. That figure is expected to rise to $600 in 2026.
“That really hurts the kids and a lot of our sponsors have stepped up so we don’t have to pass that fee on to our registrants. Both associations have taken that on and are paying for it themselves,” he said.
Forde noted that several sponsors have stepped up with generous contributions to help ease the financial burden and make hockey more affordable.
“Our sponsorships are really the only reason we are able to have hockey in Bancroft. Our girls’ association has six very strong platinum sponsors. Instead of doing team sponsors, they take on the entire program, and we divide the jersey bars among the three teams,” he said.
Forde, who has a daughter on the U15 girls rep team and a son on the U13 boys rep squad, said featuring the girls’ program this time around is to present a unified front.
“When you get two associations in one town, they are often seen as competing against each other. We want this to be about promoting hockey in Bancroft and encouraging as many people as possible to support our kids,” he said.
The event will feature a 50/50 draw, raffles and other fundraisers to support the Bancroft District Minor Hockey Association and the Bancroft Jets Girls Hockey Association.
The day begins with the U7 team taking on the Lakefield Chiefs at 8 a.m. and concludes with the U18 BB girls hosting the Cold Creek Comets at 8:30 p.m. A full schedule is available at https://bancroftjets.com/.
