WickFest & GHC Announce Renewed & Strengthened Partnership
WickFest grows through the implementation of affiliate events hosted by GHC
As anyone in the game can attest, ice is not easy to come by in the big cities, a challenge we all struggle to overcome in high-season. So, WickFest – together with Girls Hockey Calgary (GHC) has found a way to offer the most number of girls, the most opportunity to participate in great Female events – by hosting both WickFest Signature and WickFest-affiliated GHC events.
“This is a pilot program for the delivery of WickFest in highly-subscribed markets,” says Ceilidh Price, Co-Founder of WickFest, who went on to explain ice availability in Calgary for tournaments has reduced even further in 2022, as associations work within the new tournament windows provided by the governing bodies.
Tara Lyseng of Girls Hockey Calgary adds, “We have organized our events to off-set one anothers’ competitive divisions. This way we can be sure ALL girls can participate in the Calgary female hockey scene in a couple of very competitive weekends. It will be a real festival of female hockey across the city!”
Price adds, “We have always worked in such great partnership with Girls Hockey Calgary, it just made sense to expand that partnership. This ensures both organizations’ events grow despite the squeeze on ice and windows. GHC has been a part of success for over a decade. In fact, the lead on the GHC-led events was an original WickFester, so we have absolute confidence in the experience teams will get.”
What’s a WickFest Signature event?
• Opening Party (Thursday Night) with special guests, DJ, etc.
• 40+ Clinics and Workshops Program for players, parents, coaches and siblings that cover topics as diverse in range as “Juggling to Improve Hand-Eye Coordination” and “Coaching the Female Brain through the teens” to National Team, NHL and Cross-Sport special guests.
• HUGE raffle and silent auction
• Special contests and offers from sponsors such as Canadian Tire, Gatorade, Telus, Harvey’s and more!
• Individual Skills Camps and Coach Sessions
• Autograph Sessions with current National Team players (TBC)
• Off-ice sponsor acitvations such as shooting gallery, contest, giveaways
• Parent lounges
• Tradeshow-style vendors
What’s a WickFest affiliated event?
These premiere events are organized and run by Girls Hockey Calgary’s outstanding teams, but are sponsored by WickFest. This means participants get all the benefits of a WickFest Signature event including exclusive access to all the events listed above, with some events happening right at the ECTAS venue. GHC remains responsible for the hockey operations and other parts of the self-contained event.
When, where and which divisions participate in the WickFest Signature and Affiliated Events?
CALGARY: Nov 24-27 and Dec 1-4, 2022 @ Seven Chiefs Arena & Great Plains Arena
Weekend 1 = U9, U15 and U18 + some lower tier U11 (affiliate event)
Weekend 2 = U11, U13 + some U18 (affiliate event)
How will you consider tiering and which event we will best fit?
We will consider:
• Division and level
• If a team plays All-Female or Co-Ed (Integrated) during their regular season
• How many other teams are in your division?
• How many female teams play in an area overall?
How does registration for the events work?
WickFest and GHC will release an Expression of Interest phase starting on July 15th, 2022. During this phase you identify your estimated tier and we will place you in the appropriate event based on tiering information that becomes available at the beginning of the season.
You will be notified in mid-September of your acceptance to the event(s) and which venue/event your team best fits into. You will also be provided hotel and schedule information relevant to that event.