More than 30 years ago, Danny Franco was posing for a photo with the novice Rangers team he was coaching in the 1988-89 season of the Langley Minor Hockey Association.
At the time, his two sons were playing in the league, and learning some valuable lessons in the process, Franco recalled.
“Being part of a team, learning how to be a good teammate, and also being coached, these are beneficial things to experience,” Franco commented.
“Getting along with teammates [when] maybe you don’t have the same interests. Those are things that are brought into the workforce – being able to work with coworkers that maybe you don’t have the same interests or you don’t get along with. I think all those things are very very important. I know it benefited my two boys.”
Now, as LMHA president, Franco is preparing to celebrate the league’s 50th anniversary.
“I think our future looks great,” he told the Langley Advance Times.
“We’ve make great strides over the last 25 years to where we are today.”
READ ALSO: Langley Minor Hockey Association unveils new look
Now 50 years in, the 2023-24 season will mark the second landmark anniversary for Franco as LMHA president, who held the post back when the league marked its 25th anniversary.
There have been some big changes since then.
“I don’t think there were any girls in our association [at the time],” Franco remarked.
“Whereas now, 25 years later, I think we have as many as three to four girls on some teams, and a lot of the teams have at least one.”
As well, like most associations, the LMHA now has some paid employees .
“We have a paid operations manager [Alex Guiney]. That was unheard of 25 years ago,” Franco noted.
New challenges include the competition provided by unsanctioned amateur hockey leagues or program that operate outside of Hockey Canada registration and sanctioning and outside the authority of Hockey Canada and BC Hockey.
“We’ve lost a lot of kids to those teams,” Franco reported.
“Retention is a big thing with us, trying to retain kids, offer them the development that these other programs say they offer. We’ve spent a lot of a lot of our energies trying to offer those types of development. That’s why we have a operations manager who deals with offering the type of development that we feel we need, to keep kids staying in Langley as opposed to going to these other leagues. In the last 10 years we’ve been forced to be better [offer more] so because we want kids to stay and play in Langley minor hockey.”
READ ALSO: Plans unveiled for five-arena expansion at Langley Events Centre
Franco celebrated the Township announcement of badly-needed new rinks “to help us accommodate what we want to do from the development standpoint.”
“We’re pretty excited about that.”
Membership registrations are recovering from the pandemic.
“I remember when we had 1200 registration numbers in the mid 90s, the highest we’ve ever been,” Franco estimated.
“We’ve come down a little bit over the years, but we’re creeping back up to just over 1,000 this year.”
LMHA is planning a free celebration of 50 years open to all LMHA members, alumni, partners and providers, and their families at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday, Jan. 27th, 2024 at 6 p.m.
There will be an alumni hockey game, displays, games for the kids, special guests and more.
While it is free, eligible attendees are asked to secure their tickets online at:
https://lmha.wufoo.com/forms/qndtw3u1l3t9wj/
Langley Minor Hockey Association, home of the Eagles since 1973, is a non-profit, community focused minor hockey organization and a member of both Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey (PCAHA) and BC Hockey.