Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
COYOTES –OUR CLUB OF THE WEEK K
This week’s club of the week is Coatbridge Coyotes ice hockey club.
The Advertiser spoke to committee member David Nisbet to find out more about the Time Capsule-based side...
How did the club get started?
With the growing interest in ice hockey in Scotland and the lack of facilities most amateur teams are pretty full. When the Time Capsule re-opened in 2012 and ice time became available, there was a group of us who were, at the time, travelling further afield to play. With this facility on our doorstep it made sense to look at starting a team here and once we put the word out on social media the Coyotes were born!
What kind of success has your club had?
When we first affiliated to the Scottish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) we started off in the bottom tier of Scottish recreation ice hockey.
As a new team we weren’t really able to compete and it took us a few years to find our feet.
We’ve now got a great group together and in June 2016 we won our first tournament - the Ian Forbes Memorial Trophy in Dundee. Since then we have gone on to win our second tournament (Aberdeen Northstars Invitational) and we retained the Ian Forbes Memorial.
We also gained promotion to the Scottish Recreational Ice Hockey Conference (SRIHC) ‘Scottish Plate’, which is the second tier of recreational ice hockey in Scotland, by getting to the final of the SRIHC Quaich in 2017 where we were cruelly beaten on penalty shots after extra time.
When does your club train and play matches?
We train and play our home matches on Sunday night at 8pm in the Time Capsule. We usually advertise these games on our social media.
Who are the coaches and trainers?
We currently have two coaches. Neil Secmezsoy Dunn, who has been with the club since the beginning and has also helped train other local under-20 teams. We also have Tyler Spencer, who joined us last year as a player and has recently started to help out with coaching. Tyler is originally from Newfoundland in Canada and has experience in playing and coaching over there.
What youth options do you have at the club?
Unfortunately we don’t have any. The SRIHC is strictly over-18s. There is a thriving junior club called Lanarkshire Lightning also based at the Time Capsule that we point people towards if they have a kid that wants to start playing.
What difficulties does the club struggle to overcome?
As we are an over-18s amateur club, we were not eligible for any grants so we started with nothing. Ice time is very expensive when you compare it to hiring other sports venues such as football pitches or halls and the burden of this falls onto the players. We try to keep the costs for players as minimal as possible but this can be a challenge when faced with ever-increasing ice hire costs.
How does the club benefit the community?
In the five years we have been running we have held a few charity race nights to try to raise money for the club and also local charities. We have also volunteered to help at the inclusive skate club, which is on the ice before our games on a Sunday, which caters for kids with disabilities. Spectator entry to our games is free so we like to try to let people know there is something else other than the usual football and rugby in the area and it won’t cost them anything to come and watch.
How much work goes into running the club?
A lot! We have three people on the committee: chairperson Neil Secmezsoy Dunn, treasurer William Leckenby and secretary David Nisbet. Away from the ice, we three are responsible for organising fixtures, booking ice time and player administration.
How would someone join your club?
Due to the smaller ice pad in the Time Capsule we have to put a limit on the amount of registered players we have each season. Within this number we have some spaces available for players that are beginners or just starting out. If someone is interested in joining, they should contact us on social media or by e-mailing membership@ coatbridgecoyotes.com.