Charlottetown and Sherwood minor hockey associations to merge for better competition

The Sherwood Parkdale Rural Minor Hockey Association and the Charlottetown Minor Hockey Association have officially merged for the upcoming season.

Keith Ford, co-president of the newly formed Greater Charlottetown Minor Hockey Association, said the merger has been in the works for a few years.

He said it will help maximize ice time and balance out team rosters. 

"Before, say in Sherwood, if someone wasn't using ice time, it would go unused," Ford said. 

"Now where we're both one association we can use those ice times that [if] someone is playing... away at a tournament, other teams can pick up those ice times."

The two associations' girls teams have been merged for over a decade, as have the under-13 to under-18 teams.

The merger also brings a new name for the team — the Islanders. They were previously called the Falcons, Abbies, Cyclones, and Attack. 

"So now we come all in, and now we're all Islanders," Ford said. 

"Everyone will be in the proper division that they belong in.... It makes it more balanced and players are playing at the appropriate levels."

He said hockey tournaments held between the two associations in the past won't be affected by the merger.

"The George Trainor [holiday tournament] has always been shared between the two associations, so that's not going to change," he said. 

"The Early Bird is going to continue... and the tournament in Charlottetown, the Spud, it will continue on as the same thing."