The 100 Mile House Wranglers Junior B Hockey Club is looking for volunteers to help the local team put on a great show during its inaugural season in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
The club is asking for anyone who is interested in making the team a success and becoming part of its history to show up at the South Cariboo Rec. Centre (SCRC) for the 100 Mile House Wranglers Volunteer Fair on July 18 from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
Club president Tom Bachynski says the Volunteer Fair is the "big callout" for volunteers this season, and prospective volunteers only need to bring some ID (for the club data base) and their willingness to help out.
There will be a sheet with the list of the volunteer duties and there is a wide variety of tasks to pick from.
"We have had a lot of people express some interest [in volunteering], but now we need to have them actually commit to that interest. This is the big one where we need people to sign up."
As far as how many volunteers the Wranglers need, Bachynski says the "more volunteers they have the less of a burden it is on everybody.
"We need to have volunteers for the pre-season, the 26-game regular season and the playoffs. It becomes a bit of a burden and you don't want to do it all of the time, but if you do it for five or 10 games, it's not as big of an issue."
He adds they need between 12 and 24 volunteers a game.
There are a number of great task options that would best suit each volunteer's skills and interests.
The tasks include: the Booster Club to sell merchandise; off-ice officials – scorekeepers, penalty box monitors, goal judges and announcers; and people to help monitor the stands and parking.
“Would you like to sing the national anthem? Would you like to drive the bus? If you want to be an equipment manager, sharpen skates or do anything that’s attached to hockey, we need to know.”
He adds there will be a billet table – "billeting is coming along very well" – so if folks want to inquire about that program, there will be people there to answer any questions. Billets are still needed, as it is a key factor in the Wranglers operation.
"We know there are shift workers, so if we know your schedule, we can marry you up to our game schedule and you can come down and help us out."
Other than the on-ice product, the volunteers are the next most important component to help the season runs smoothly.
The club will also need penalty box attendants, goal judges, 50/50 ticket sellers, as well as broadcasters, announcers and videographers.
Bachynski notes volunteers won't be charged for the games they work.
"It's a great opportunity to keep one eye on the game and the other eye on doing your volunteer task."
Everyone who wants to be involved in this exciting new entertainment product in 100 Mile House is urged to show up for the Wranglers Volunteer Fair at the South Cariboo Rec. Centre on Airport Road on July 18 from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
Bachynski says they are also looking for promotional ideas and would like to hear about them at the fair.
He adds one person came to him with a great idea for a promotion between periods – dumpster diving for a diamond ring.
The clean dumpster, filled with scrunched-up paper, will be brought on the ice and some lucky spectator will be given a certain amount of time to try to find the one with the piece of paper with the ring in it. The promotion will continue during the season until the ring is found.
“It’s absolutely outstanding and we’re definitely going to do it.”