1,104 fans packed into Inter Pipeline Arena on Saturday for the Kindersley Jr. Klippers home opener, unfortunately watching the Battlefords North Stars take a 6-3 win, after the Klippers earned a road win of their own 5-2 to open the season on Friday.
The home opener typically coincides with Goose Festival weekend, the main reason why Klippers governor Kyle Adamson was happy, but unsurprised with the turnout.
"Home opener is usually electric. When you have something that coincides with it, like we have with Goose Festival, it is kind of a homecoming and stuff for some people," said Adamson, mentioning he noticed some solid alumnus in the crowd. "They come back to Kindersley, and it was a great crowd, a lot of fun... the turnout to the dance was fantastic as well," finished Adamson regarding the opening weekend.
Not only is Adamson involved in the Klippers front office, but he is also the SJHL's Chairman of the Board. The Klippers ranked fourth in total attendance behind only Yorkton, Warman, and Humboldt, the league seeing an average of 1080 fans this past weekend.
For Adamson, there isn't much better than opening weekend.
"When you have the opportunity to have a good first weekend, and some parity in the league, nobody really knows what is going on... Everybody starts Friday at noon in first place, and they are also tied for last," he joked. "You want to see the product your hometown team has."
Opening weekend also saw the debut of a few new rinks, the Warman Wolverines making their debut at the Warman Home Centre Communiplex, and the La Ronge Ice Wolves opening up play from the Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Centre.
Streaming wise more eyeballs were on games across the league than ever before as well, Adamson mentioning that he himself was looking at other games in between Klippers action.
"Our Flo Hockey numbers were up 5 per cent over opening weekend last year. Everything is trending in the right direction for an amazing and exciting hockey season in 2025-26," said Adamson, adding that the leagues standalone shows are getting good numbers too.
Only the Nipawin Hawks have their home opener left, a good hockey town that will likely add even stronger numbers to the first game total.
"An exciting team, I imagine they will fill their rink this weekend. It's good news all around for the SJHL."
The season is off and running. Three games on Tuesday night see La Ronge hosting Melfort, Humboldt home to Weyburn, while Warman travels to North Battleford.