Morden Minor Hockey has wrapped up their first year of the "First Shift" program for kids aged 6-10. The program gives them six ice sessions with coaches, and a full set of hockey gear to get them started.

"We applied for the 30 kid program but we exceeded that so they allowed us to grow up to about the 45. We reached 38 kids that were registered for this program and unfortunately we had to turn a few away as they were late registrants, but it shows that there's a great interest for something like this," says board member Dantin Reimer.

He notes a lot of parents have given positive feedback and asked if it will continue next year.

"The one parent said, 'we weren't even a hockey family. We'd never even thought about becoming a hockey family, but this is something that really changed our minds.'"

Daemon Parent is a huge fan of hockey and says, the best part was seeing that his daughter enjoyed playing a game that he loves.

"There was also the on-ice sessions with the coaches, and they did a great job of making sure that all the kids were kind of involved in everything."

He adds, the experience was really positive and recommends it to anyone who has kids that would like to learn how to skate and play hockey.

Most of the participants were from Morden, with a few from Winkler, Roland, and Winnipeg. The only other "First Shift" programs in the province were hosted in Winnipeg and Brandon.