The Battlefords North Stars held its AGM Monday night at the Gold Eagle Lodge in North Battleford.
The Financial report did show a small loss this year of $13,733 for the team, though that can be attributed largely to higher expenses this year with a full season of play.
President, Shandon Reichert said despite a bit of a dip from last year’s numbers, the organization does view the year as a real positive, for being able to return to a full season and playoffs for the first time since 2018-19, pre-pandemic.
“We viewed it as a successful year because we actually got to finish the year and get into the playoffs,” Reichert said. “Our biggest challenge last year was getting people back into the stands, but we worked really hard to try to make sure they were comfortable and that’s one of those things the board is going to try to continue to work on, getting more people back into the fold and coming out to watch games.”
The meeting also saw the passing of the torch of team president and governor from Reichert, who had held the post the last five years, to Kyle Kellgren, who has served as vice president for the last five.
Reichert said the transition of the club presidency to Kellgren is something that just felt like the right time.
“Kyle and I had discussed it about a year ago that [2021-22] was probably going to be my last year as president,” Reichert said. “I will be staying on the board in some capacity, but Kyle is going to do a great job. He and I worked very well together, we had a very good relationship and leaned on each other through some really tough times over the last five years.”
Over his tenure Reichert helmed the team through a number of highs, bringing in current head coach and GM, Brayden Klimosko and winning the league championship in 2019, also navigating challenging times, such as the Humboldt tragedy in 2018, and the COVID pandemic since 2020.
Reichert said the team is in a good spot moving forward, with a bright future ahead heading into next year and beyond.
“We’ve got great local representation as always next year with upwards of five kids from the community, and a local captain so the future as always, looks very good for the North Stars,” he said. “It’s just a matter of bringing some people back out to the games to watch our hockey team and the good local talent we have.”
Kellgren thanked Reichert for his years of service to the team and guidance during their time working together.
“We’re really lucky; it’s been a stressful last few years, but Shandon did an amazing job and was a great president,” Kellgren said. “Those will be big shoes to fill and I’m just excited to keep things rolling along.”
Other moves within the board will see Mitch Hawtin serve as the club’s new vice president, while Jamey Nelson and Tyler Beatch were elected to board positions with the team.