A swelling cohort of new hockey players has the Inuvik Minor Hockey Association buzzing this season.

鈥淏usy,鈥� said Mark Sommerfeld, coach of the novice group, about the first day Saturday, Oct. 7.

鈥淟ot more kids than we had the last two years. But (it鈥檚 been) good so far. Everybody鈥檚 really excited to be out there.鈥�

By the second day of hockey, 142 players had signed up, with growth especially among the younger tiers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 bigger than last year,鈥� said Marsha Branigan, the association鈥檚 secretary, who was taking care of sign-ups during the weekend.

鈥淚 think it might be one of our largest groups. We have lots of new players coming in, which is nice to see, especially at the younger age.鈥�

Sommerfeld has children at the initiation, novice and atom levels. His son Jaxon was looking forward to his new season in novice, where his father is the coach.

鈥淢y dad鈥檚 the coach, so he said that we were just going to have a fun day for the first day of hockey, just skate around and play some games,鈥� said Jaxon.

He鈥檚 been playing hockey for five years, preferring to play goalie or forward. His favourite team is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Jaxon鈥檚 goal for this season: 鈥淧laying my best and being a good hockey player.鈥�

For coach Sommerfeld, leading the novice players means balancing practices so all skill sets are accommodated.

鈥淲e focus primarily on skating (and) just the basics of hockey 鈥� skating, stopping,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got skill ranges from never skated before all the way up to being able to start learning positional play, but we have to focus on a middle ground so we don鈥檛 leave anybody behind.鈥�

Because there aren鈥檛 enough players in the Inuvik hockey system to hold a league, players usually practice all week with one game on the weekends. Sommerfeld divides the players into two teams with separate dressing rooms and jerseys, so the experience mimics a real game feeling.

When players come in from the surrounding communities for the larger tournaments, they are integrated into the Inuvik rosters and teams are divided up evenly.

Despite it being busy, Sommerfeld said the new season was going well so far.

鈥淓verybody鈥檚 really excited to be out there,鈥� he said.