Junior League Hockey; Pint Aid Highlight Weekend

The Valley Event Center will be hosting two Junior League hockey games this coming weekend for your entertainment.

Brought to you by the Hi-Line Youth Hockey Board of Directors, the Gillette Wild and the Glacier Nationals will be lighting up the scoreboard in two separate games. The first game will be held Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

On Valentine's Day Sunday, you can catch the second game of the weekend at 3 p.m. - doors will open at 2:30 p.m. The beer garden will be open for both games as well.

On the Nationals' roster is Glasgow's Wyatt Mattfeldt. Mattfeldt began his hockey career as an Ice Dawg and transitioned to play for the Nationals earlier this hockey season.

HLYH has had a working relationship with the Glacier Nationals founder, Butch Kowalka and his wife for a number of years. That relationship just naturally progressed into bringing hockey camps and exhibition games to the community of Glasgow.

Kowalka was active on the Flathead Valley Hockey Association in Kalispell as a founding board member, programs committee member and chairman of all coaches for its first three years. He has coached multiple teams for FVHA and the Glacier Hockey Assoc., specializing in player development.

As a player, Kowalka was a Midget AA national champion with Team Toledo in 1987. He has played Tier II Jr. A hockey in Detroit and Division I college hockey with Ohio State University.

Now, Kowalka is the head coach of the NORPAC Jr. A Showcase team and an assistant for the Puget Sound Tomahawks.

He is also the head coach for an internationally competing state team and is an on-ice coach with the Montana Selects program (essentially all-stars of hockey). He has also been selected to represent Montana at the Northern Plains District camp for USA Hockey's player development program as on on-ice coach and player evaluator.

HLYH representative Mike Eliason indicated that the games and camp will be good exposure for the hockey program here and could be used as a recruiting tool for some junior coaches. According to Eliason, the VEC hosted a similar exhibition game a few years ago, and the HLYH Board would like to continue bringing in this caliber of entertainment.

This weekend, prior to the scheduled games, the Nationals will be presenting hockey camps for all ages and skill levels. The camps will focus on passing, skating, shooting, and hockey sense. There will be several National players on the ice during the camps, so participants should expect and be prepared for individual instruction.

Also on Saturday, the Sagebrush Lounge is hosting a Glasgow Ice Dawgs Pint Aid from 4 p.m.-midnight. It's a great opportunity to support our local hockey program and have fun at the same time.

Admission for the games is $10 for adults and $5 for 12 and under, seniors and veterans. Tickets can be purchased at D&G Sports & Western, the Glasgow Chamber office, or at the door.

This year's contest is sponsored by Northwestern Energy, Cottonwood Inn, B&B Pumping, Reynolds, Chappell's Automotive, Bud Light, Ezzies Wholesale/Midtown, FMDH, and CB's Automotive.