The Castlegar Rebels hockey club held their annual general meeting on April 16 at the Sandman Inn.
Jim Craig was re-elected as president of the club for his 13th straight year. Joining Craig on the executive are vice-president Tom Campbell, treasurer Bob Stewart, and secretary Sandy Terlecki.
"We've got pretty much the same board as last year along with the same volunteer group," said Craig. "We've got a few new people that have consented to be volunteers for our organization."
The organization is still looking for volunteers for next year for a variety of positions.
"We're looking for somebody who would be interesting in doing the webcasts as well as people for security," he said. "We certainly need individuals who can help out at the door. Also, we need people who could help us with various fundraisers throughout the season."
On the ice, the Castlegar Rebels have strung together very successful seasons back to back.
"Two years ago we made the KI(JHL) final," he said. "Last year, I thought we were the second best team in the KI. We ended up losing to Beaver Valley in seven (in the second round). It was 2-2 going into the last few minutes of the third period."
Beaver Valley, of course, won the KIJHL title and moved on to the Cyclone Taylor Cup, where they finished fourth.
"You have to remember that B.V., like us, was a fairly young team on average," said Craig. "The team that won it, Abbotsford, was a team with ten 20 year-olds and two 21 year-olds. It's tough - you're playing against men. But Beaver Valley was in every game and I think we were as good as B.V. Over the season, we won more games against them than they did against us. I thought we had a hell of a season."
Despite another strong regular season, attendance was down for the Rebels.
"It was a bit of a disappointment," he said. "We were down a little over the regular season, yet in the play-offs we had tremendous support. We were lucky to play our two natural rivals in Nelson and Beaver Valley."
The Rebels drew an average of 600 people against Nelson and more than 800 for the play-off home games against B.V.
"When you put that many people into the arena you can do well," said Craig. "It was basically like a second season for us. We made as much money in the play-offs in two series as we did in the all season for the rest of the year. That's dangerous, though, because if you have a season where you don't do well in the play-offs - say you're out in the first round - you could be in financial trouble. "
Craig and the executive were impressed again with the strong job from head coach and general manager Steve Junker and have high hopes for another strong season.
"Last year, I thought we were in a rebuilding year," said Craig. "We lost some pretty talented players like (Ryan) Aynsley and (Erik) Wentzel. We recovered fairly well and got some experience in guys like (Scott) Morisseau. Steve was mentioning in the meeting that our returning group of players is going to be pretty good and knowing his recruiting, I think we'll fill in the holes quite nicely. I'm looking forward to it."
As for the bingo situation, unfortunately, the Rebels organization was unable to come up with an amicable deal with Chances Casino for bingo fundraising.
"We found that the opportunities that they put before us were not going to work out for the Rebels or for them for that matter," said Craig. "So we've looked at our options and decided that the bingo option for us is not really an option we can do a whole lot with. We're going to investigate over the summer to see if we can return the bingo with a smaller venue and less dates. So if we can do that we may revive it."
The total revenue for the Castlegar Hockey Society for the year ending April 30, 2012 is $178,982.25. The biggest sources of revenue were: gate sales $53,535.65, advertising-regular $41,937.50, registration fees $16,706 and fundraising $18,975.36.
The total expenses for the society for the same time is $187,028.18 for a loss of $8,045.93 for the year.
The biggest expenditures were: coaches salaries $44,663.95, ice fees $17,613.99, transportation $12,646.84, and office $10,619.03.
Anyone looking to volunteer for the Castlegar Rebels for next season is urged to call the team's office at 250-365-0911.