By Hockey Saskatchewan

KIPLING, Sask. - The snowy streets of Kipling were filled with the sounds of laughter and the energy of grassroots hockey players giving back to their rural Saskatchewan community around the holiday season.

On Dec. 7, the Kipling Minor Hockey Association (MHA) bundled up for a food drive, collecting donations from generous donors. Approximately 40 players, joined by a few siblings, went throughout the town of roughly 1,076 people.

“The food drive was the Under-7s, our two Under-9 teams, and then our Under-11 team,” U11 Royals manager Holly Heikkila said.

“They collected 3,900 pounds of food that day. It went to the Kipling Food Bank. They said it was more than double from last year. It was huge. More and more people are utilizing the food bank and different communities.”

The food drive itself was organized by the Kipling & District Lions Club and Kipling Fire Department, who invited the MHA to take part after learning they hosted an Adam Herold Legacy Foundation camp.

For many families, the sight of their Royals players working together for the betterment of the community made a lasting impression.

“We adults have said that food drive day was so heartwarming to see all the kids going door to door and working together … Even for some elderly people to see. There were so many comments of like, ‘Oh, it was so good to see those little kids come to the door.’ And they all had their Royals jerseys on. They made a big impact,” Heikkila said.

The food drive was preceded by Kipling’s first Adam Herold Legacy Foundation camp, held Nov. 15-16. As part of the camp, players are asked to complete 10 volunteer hours, reinforcing the leadership aspect taught off the ice. The food drive accounted for roughly three of those hours.

“What the kids learned about in one of their sessions at the Adam Herold camp is how you can be a leader even if you don't have a big status within your community … It's just being a good person,” Heikkila said.

“All of the kids are supposed to do these [hours] on their own if they don't do it as a team. Some of the things that were suggested were like, ‘Hey, maybe you guys can go shovel sidewalks or go to a neighbour's house and shovel’ … But now kids need to go and find some other things they can do.”

The foundation started after the loss of 16-year-old Adam Herold, who was one of 16 who passed away in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018. That season, he was playing with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team during playoffs and served as the Regina Pat Canadians captain in the Saskatchewan Male Under-18 AAA Hockey League.

From the family farm south of Montmartre, Sask., Russell Herold said leadership and being a good teammate were defining traits of his son Adam.

“[Adam] was humble and even though he was a great leader, he wasn’t one of those rah-rah kinds of leaders. He led by example. I think he’d be happy the kids are doing something in their community and helping out because I know that’s the kind of thing he would have done,” Herold said.

“And just being a good teammate, [Adam] always looked out for the other kids on his team. He was always one of those guys that tried to make everybody feel welcome, because he played on a lot of different teams and a lot of his career, he was the out-of-towner.”

Now in its eighth season, the foundation has reached 23 communities across the province, delivering a blend of on-ice skill development, off-ice leadership, fitness, and team-building sessions.

“We go two days in the fall to each community and then we come back in the new year for a single day to follow up on what we started in the fall camps. We’re still going back to Milestone, Canora and Kipling,” Herold said.

“[Participants] volunteer to ref hockey at their rinks, shovel sidewalks for seniors. In Indian Head, I know they were moving library locations. They helped the librarian move all the books … And they’ve gone around and sung Christmas carols at senior homes. It’s just to get them to realize that everybody can do their little part.”

In rural Saskatchewan, where the hockey rink can often serve as the heartbeat of a community, that sense of shared responsibility matters.

“Our [Montmartre] minor hockey system is only 50 kids in it right now. And we just see that communities are slowly shrinking away. If everybody doesn’t do some small part in their community, you slowly start to lose hockey teams, and you might lose the rink eventually,” Herold said.

For the players in Kipling, the lessons from the camp are intended to stick in their minds well beyond this season as well as the memories of volunteering.

“Giving back for sure and, I think, the fire trucks. I mean that was huge. A lot of them got to ride the fire trucks and ring the sirens … We went and unloaded the trailers at the food bank after and there was a little two-year-old girl there. She had her arms out wanting to carry food into the food bank. They all just loved it,” Heikkila said.

“We hope to make it an annual thing now that we've seen how successful it was. I don't know if it'll have as much of an impact for families since they don't need these Adam Herold [volunteer] hours, but I hope families do realize it’s important.”

With the Broncos tragedy over seven years ago, the Herolds keep the memory of Adam burning bright with these grassroots camps in rural communities, some of which they attended as a hockey family with their son and his sister, Erin.

“My wife and I, we'll go to the camp and you'll see all these young kids running around and they'll maybe have some Adam merchandise on, and it kind of brings a smile to your face. But at the same time, when you see them come into the rink and it'll be a mom, dad and two kids and we look at it and go, ‘that was our life,’” Herold said.

“It brings back memories, bittersweet sometimes because you want those days back … It's powerful at times and I think we're doing good things for these small communities. I mean they all seem to enjoy it and embrace what we're doing. So, hopefully it'll continue.”