Jr. A Trappers New Youth Movement

Members of the Atom OK Tire minor hockey team look on during their surpise scrimmage with the North Bay Jr. A Trappers. Photo by Chris Dawson.

It may be a concern when the captain of the North Bay Jr. A Trappers claims he’s having trouble keeping up with his teammates in a scrimmage – even worse when those teammates are only 10 years old.

“I can’t even keep up with these guys,” Marcel Konopelky said in jest during a very unique scrimmage Monday afternoon at Memorial Gardens.

The Jr. ‘A‘ Trappers were surprise guests during an afternoon minor hockey practice for the OK Tire Atoms.

While the youngsters were doing skating drills the Jr. Trappers skated onto the ice to join them. The Atoms and Trappers then split up and Junior squads filled with under agers scrimmaged and then met in the hall of fame room for a dinner with the Trappers.

“You should have seen the smiles on their faces when skated out onto the ice,” said Jr. Trappers defenceman Matt Weisensel.

“It was great and it was a lot of fun.”

Atom player Ethan Redhead proved to be a sniper during the scrimmage, potting a pair of goals.

“I think this is just awesome for the team,” admitted Redhead.

Jr. ‘A’ Trappers Sales and Marketing Rep David Di Benedetto says this is just another way the Trappers are trying to connect with the community.

"The players love to do stuff like this,” said Di Benedetto.

“We've got the Trappers players out in full uniform as you can see. They are just having a fun game of shinny with the kids, it was supposed to be a practice but we sprung the Trappers on them, they were super excited and we are excited to be out here as well."