The Airdrie Minor Hockey Association (AMHA) is extending the season this year with a bit different version of the game that's played on ice.  

Starting April 23rd and continuing until June 13th, they'll host a Spring Floorball League.   AMHA President Cliff Gunther explains just what floorball is. 

"Floorball is very similar to hockey in the sense that it has a stick and, in this case, it's a ball, not a puck per se.  The rules are very similar.  It's non-contact, so no pushing, no checking.  The focus is kind of on speed and stick-handling more than the separation of the puck.  It's kind of a game about control."

Gunther says floorball is somewhat different than floor hockey.  Like hockey, there are six players on the floor at one time.  One of the unique rules of floorball is your stick has to stay below the knees at all times.  "So you can't run around and have the stick up above," says Gunther.  

The equipment needs are minimal.  Just a stick, a shirt, pair of shorts and running shoes and you can be on a floorball court. 

Gunther says he became aware of the sport in the last few years.  "I started to see in town that they had these unique sticks and I was like, 'what are those?'  I started to do a little more research and found out what it was all about.  Then we (AMHA) as a team kind of started to look further into it.  Last spring we hosted a come try it event that was received really well by our members and that's what's pushed to the initiation of this league."

The league will run in a "game only" style Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 - 9:00 pm.  Gunther says that while registration has now closed, with just over 100 players registered, he'd encourage anyone interested in being a part of the league to go to the AMHA website and put your name on the waiting list.

"AMHA has always prided itself on not letting anybody sit on the sidelines.  We do our very best to fit everybody in,  Just for planning purposes, we hit a number that we felt we could close things down and make a league work properly."

Probably the best know floorball players were former Vancouver Canuck starts Henrik and Daniel Sedin who grew up playing floorball which is the European version of floor hockey.  

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