Okotoks hockey team builds house to raise funds

Posted by on Monday, October 31st, 2016 at 7:32am.

What started out as locker room talk amongst players in an Okotoks adult rec league has turned into an ambitious fundraiser for the Okotoks Junior A Oilers hockey team.

With the support of area tradespeople, a new home is being constructed in Black Diamond which will be sold to help keep the Foothills team running.   Construction started on the home in September 2016 in the Riverwood subdivision in nearby Black Diamond.  It’s a 1,100 square-foot home which should be completed in December.  The project management team and construction crew are going all-out on this community-build to create a unique custom-built home with a three-car garage, kitchen upgrades and by next year, high-end landscaping with a patio and gas barbecue.  The value to anyone who buys the home will be quite considerable say project spokesmen.

Riverwood is a new community in Black Diamond, located just 15 minutes west of Okotoks and 35 minutes south west of Calgary.  It’s a quiet town of 2,400 people and has several schools, churches and a hospital.  Several new-home builders are involved in the construction of the new subdivision which is now building in Phase 2.

Keeping the Team Going

The Okotoks Oilers organization is a registered not-for-profit society

Various contractors donated time and equipment, including Ryan Brothers Custom Homes. Spokesman Terry Ryan told the Western Wheel that hockey is an important aspect of life in Canada and having a junior hockey franchise in the community is very special.  In Alberta’s current economic climate, people should help in any way they can.  He said a group of people just got together after the idea was tossed around in the dressing room and brainstormed ways to make a project like this work.

Ryan stated that Okotoks hockey fans appreciate coming out to Oilers game but many don’t realize how much money it takes to run a hockey team.

Last season it Okotoks, it cost approximately $28,000 for every player on the team for a total operation budget in the 2015-16 season of $800,000.  The annual budget has literally doubled since the team launched in 2005.  In that first year of operations, the Okotoks Oilers also built a house in the town to raise capital for the team.

Okotoks Oilers chairman Wayne Lauinger compared the house-building project to the type of cooperation settlers experienced in the old west when barns were raised and crops were harvested with the help of neighbours.

The help has arrived from many throughout the Foothills region.  Like Ideal Insulation in Black Diamond owned and operated by the Brown family. Electrical was supplied by Trevor Snodgrass of Okotoks, who also was instrumental in organizing other trades to get the house built.

Snodgrass himself was a defenceman with the Okotoks Junior B Bisons and keeps his hand in as coach.  He was encouraged that many of his contacts were willing to get as much of the house done as possible at no charge.  He said most people donated something and some chipped in everything.  He said he was encouraged that so many people want to see Junior A hockey thrive in the town particularly since this level of hockey in Alberta isn’t doing well financially even so early in the season.

Lauinger said other teams in Alberta are also looking at unique ways to raise funds.

 

 

 

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