The Jasper women’s hockey program will finally get a chance to play some outside competition this weekend, as the team hosts its first-ever tournament at the Activity Centre.

“We talked about having one a couple of years ago and last year the interest really peaked, so we promised to have one in 2006,” said Jayne Yearwood, a veteran member of the Rustlers. “We thought that Jasper in January would be a perfect time to bring some women’s teams to town and show them that there’s more than skiing in Jasper.”

The women’s team, which has been running for seven years, is supported by Paul Kennedy and Joe Urie, who offer coaching and advice whenever they can.

“They come and coach whenever their busy schedules allow them to,” said Yearwood.

There are so many players in the program this year that the Jasper team will have to divide into the Rustlers and the Grizzlies in order to give the women the game experience they crave.

“We haven’t had any games per se from outside of Jasper,” said Yearwood. “Some of the women have never played a game before.”

Both Jasper teams will play three times, the more experienced Rustlers on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 10:45 a.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m., while the beginner Grizzlies face off twice on Saturday (at nine in the morning and 4:30 in the afternoon) and again at 10:45 a.m. Sunday.

The opposition will come from Clearwater B.C., Hinton and Edmonton, and there are two teams participating from both Whitecourt and Edson. The name of the game is fun and experience this time around, Yearwood said.

“It’s more for the game experience, but we will keep track of who wins each game,” she said. “We want this to be a fairly low key tournament this year, but we have some ideas for next year; we think it can be a bigger event.” 

With the focus on participation, there are few prizes on offer, although Source for Sports has donated one, she added. The Rustlers and Grizzlies are hosting a tournament social on Saturday night with the support of the Jasper Brew Pub and the public is welcome to attend. There will also be a raffle table set up at the rink for spectators.

“We haven’t really asked the local businesses for too much,” said Yearwood. “They usually give quite a bit to Jasper Minor Sports events.”

Yearwood hopes that the exposure gained by hosting the tournament will encourage more local women to join the hockey program.

“With the exposure we hope we’ll get more women,” she said. “You often hear of people who are interested but never actually get around to joining the team.” The teams provide an opportunity for anyone who is interested in the game, she added.

“We have people who start and don’t know how to skate or know anything about hockey but over the course of the year they learn and they are that much keener to come back the next year.”

Having played since the age of five, Yearwood doesn’t fit into the beginner category, but after playing with women’s teams in her youth, the left-winger did not have the occasion to play again until she moved to Jasper. Now, at the age of 46, she finds herself as one of the more experienced members of a very diverse group.

“We have women from all walks of life on the team,” she said. “We have nurses, hospital staff, teachers, childcare workers ... and there is an age range from 18 to about 50.”