DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: More matinee games please

If there was a positive to come from the opening of the South East Event Centre to March, it has to be the addition of matinee games to the Steinbach Pistons schedule.

With ice booked up at La Broquerie’s HyLife Centre, the temporary home of the Pistons while the new building is under construction, when the opening date was postponed from Jan. 31 some games had to be moved from evening to afternoon, much to my delight.

This attitude on game timing is definitely a biased one. As someone who went to 250 different sporting events in 2024, anytime I can fit an afternoon game on my schedule and have a more normal work day is a welcome one, but it’s not just about my own personal reasons.

With the Pistons hosting a Louis Riel Day game also this weekend in addition to a 12:30 p.m. re-scheduled start time against Portage Feb. 14, more kids than ever were able to take in junior A hockey. It was great to see a building packed with young fans cheering their hearts out for Steinbach.

One of the neat things about baseball scheduling in the major leagues, when a team randomly has a weekday afternoon game to cater to kids, inviting schools out to take in their product. I don’t think a dozen afternoon games in a season would be great, but a select few a season could really pay off.

I fondly remember heading out to watch the star-studded 2005 world junior Canadian team practice at the Gimli Arena during a school day when I was young.

Those experiences are awesome and can make life-long fans of the game.

The Pistons generally do a solid job in the community, as shown by their family skate after the game on Louis Riel Day, with players signing autographed hockey cards among other volunteer and community appearances. But I think scheduling a few weekday afternoon games in the future could be a great way to solidify the next generation of fans, or even future Pistons players.