Gibbons' local hockey team, the Pioneers, have a new jersey, a rebranded arena, and a new coach.
After a rough start with the expansion last year, Paralympian and ice sledge hockey player Steve Arsenault was hired as the new head coach of the Pioneers.
"What we wanted to do was to make sure that we started building the right foundation for a program that's going to withstand time and duration," Arsenault said.
Arsenault has been playing sledge hockey since 2004 and has since won gold at the Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships in 2011, 2013, and 2017. He also competed in the 2014 and 2018 Winter Paralympics with the Canadian national team, where they won bronze and silver respectively.
Since Arsenault has joined the team, the Gibbons Pioneers have made it their mission to overhaul not only their jerseys but their philosophy, too.
"With my background I really wanted to come in and build a tier two junior A team that has the expectations of any tier 1 junior A team," Arsenault said.
The Pioneers held their identification camp on August 27 and 28. Unfortunately, they have yet to fill up their roster, so they're still looking for players.
For anyone born between 2001 to 2006, who's interested in joining the Gibbons Pioneers hockey team, they can get in touch by visiting their website.