Western Ball Hockey League

I have played in the drop in games via Meetup usually on Thursdays and Fridays and they are well run. Great bunch of people and the games are competitive and fun. As well recently I have begun to use the text application in which you can see and join available games. It’s very flexible and allows me to get my hockey fix on short notice. Definitely recommend!

We've recently signed up our son for U-9 ball hockey. Mark and his staff have been nothing but amazing. They have been able to answer our questions (and believe me there have been many!) in a timely and friendly manner. The Facility itself is organized, clean and well managed. Our son is so happy after each practice/game and we love that he is active, learning new skills and fostering friendships. Would highly recommend!

My son really enjoys the interaction with other kids his age with a similar interest in ball hockey The coaches are great and work with all the kids no matter the age. Proper equipment is used and offered for the kids.

The game manager texting platform is very innovative and easy to use! Would highly recommend to anyone wanting to join a fun ball hockey league!

Awesome ball hockey leagues here, awesome staff and a great environment to bring your families

Word Play on my very beginner experiences with WBHL:

"As long as you can hold a stick and run"
Oh, that sounds like so much fun!
A stack of guys & gals
Who, through their game become new pals.

Running up and down the field
Hoping for the points to yield
an increase, growth,
Muttered in-between a bleeping oath.

Out of breath, puffing loud,
Sweaty shirts a hard-earned shroud;
Glowing like a bright tomato
(get up off that couch, you cute potato!).

Buzzer rings - 1st period DONE
(only 50 more minutes left to run)
Today there's subs
(next time not) -
Keeps this gal hopping
(and plenty hot).

New-girl-on-the-field woes;
Her lack of skills
(it really shows) ;
But she's so brave to try-
(and laughs at herself instead of cry).

Yep, she's made a LOT of dumb mistakes,
And comes home with a LOT of freakin' aches.
But you know what? In the TRY, she's
KICKED SOME BUTT.

Thanks to all the 'mates
With whom she's had the privilege to play,
And with sportsmanship spirit
Welcome her back, next game day.

"Gotta start somewhere"
And with game-hosts who DO care,
Enough to speak firm words
To coach and teach and
Keep growing, within reach;
As they, their thousands of hours experience share.

Western Ball Hockey
You've got me talking to the folks in my spheres,
Who are curious how a romantic, artsy homeschool mama
Is now caught up in sweaty, stick-handling and overcoming fears.

(I'm so glad I tried!)

(Have YOU played yet?)

If you like ball hockey this is the place to be. Loads of options for single games, leagues, skill level, ages, days of the week. Very good price and happy community of sportsmanship. Play area is small so be ready for fast pace action! The new texting option to pickup games is also very easy to use and helpful. I highly recommend.

I came to WBHL having no ball hockey experience and was welcomed warmly into the league! As a new female player, I definitely appreciated non-contact rules they have in place. I have made many friendships here that carry on outside of the league, and would strongly recommend this league to any skill level!

Terribly managed. Expensive. Teams are always short players. Better rules should be in place for safety reasons including slap shots from one end to the other. The ref/host guy is nice though. The music makes it better. Supposed to be a fun time with your friends but half the time we have to switch up teams because the other teams are short…. Maybe if a season doesn’t have enough players or teams it should be cancelled and charge for drop in shinny instead of taking peoples money for a full season anyways. Just a thought. Won’t be joining this league again solely due to this reason.

WBHL have added a new 2 vs 2 concept to its leagues. The rink has standard floor and boards but is half the size and with slightly smaller nets. If you don’t have enough players for regular 4 vs 4 then definitely check this version out! I love it! The risk/reward of a given play is heightened and you have to think fast. After playing for many years it was awesome to experience a new style of ball hockey to freshen things up! Well worth checking out!

My son is so happy and active to be coming to the Western Ball Hockey League to play ball hockey. Such great staff and super friendly environment always.

I’ve been playing in drop-in scrimmages for 5 years with the WBHL and it has always been a great experience and a great group to play with. Eventually, the opportunity came to referee the co-ed and intermediate league games for the WBHL and I was eager to take on the challenge. I have worked closely with Mark and his team and have learned a lot about how to play the game the right way. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking to challenge themselves or get into the sport as there are many levels for anyone to join in and have a great time:)

Glad my son found a sport he enjoys, making new friends amd having fun learning. Maybe a few more options for times for technical skills. Love the enthusiasm from some of the coaches definitely gets the kids going. Maybe a few more team options for more play time.overall super Happy. Thank you to everyone very approachable and will to help and answer all questions

Mark, Robin and his team are amazing! They're well organized, respectful and bring fun to the game. Our son loves playing hockey with this organization. Their summer camps and PD camps are our son's favourite camp!

To anyone thinking about playing in this league, listen to the bad reviews - they are absolutely true. If you don’t believe it, just talk to seasoned players in the ball hockey community in Calgary - they all know him well and will tell you he (owner) is deceiving, has zero ethics, and just trying to build his own wallet (not building game of hockey). Do not let your kids learn from such an unkind and manipulative person. I stopped playing here once I learned his agenda and the disrespectful way he treats his customers.

Very poorly managed facility. The manager Mark lacks all basic customer service skills. Calgary Central Sportsplex may want to reconsider who runs their facilities or I wouldn’t be surprised if they start losing more business. We been loyal customers for 4+ years and won’t be returning.

Great league. Though some of the individual leagues are short players sometimes it’s still a blast.met a lot of great people and had many fun games. There seems to be a lot of salty reviews and I can’t help but think wbhl is being review bombed by reading through the comments. Very much recommend joining ball hockey either way!

Owner is unprofessional and very disrespectful. Don't come to this place unless you want to play in an unconditioned rink and drink musty water. Do not recommend this place

I was extremely disappointed with the service we received. The manager, Mark, was rude and unprofessional, and did not seem to care about our concerns or issues. We have been long-time customers of this facility, but the lack of customer service and respect we received during our last visit was unacceptable (verbal abuse, micro aggressions). We will not be returning to this facility in the future and do not recommend it to others. Mark will likely deflect this review like he has to every single negative review he has received in the last 5 years instead of accepting it, learning from his mistakes and changing his ways. Highly recommend avoiding this place because of horrible management.

Great league with a variety of options for kids as well as adults. Our 12 year old son has been part of the league for 14 months now and has enjoyed it immensely. His play has been constantly improving. He also tends to be a bit on the shy side and playing here has allowed him to grow socially and ‘come out of his shell’, so to speak. Mark and the coaching staff do their best to accommodate everyones needs and we have always been treated more than fair. Unfortunately, I have noticed that a bunch of clowns from the same group have left one star reviews full of false accusations. As I understand it, these people’s own abusive and belligerent behaviour resulted in a negative situation for themselves and as a result, they have chosen to slander the organization. I would hate to see anyone miss out on being part of a great league based on someone else’s lies.

Honestly, this was a nightmare of an experience.
The coordinator, Mark, has zero professional etiquette. I was running my own sessions in the facility and booking through the WBHL, at the Central Sportsplex facility. Constantly, Mark was cancelling our schedules last minute because of ‘confusion’.
On top of that, we were demanded to move our time slot that we had for about 2+ years. When asked for the reasoning, Mark told us because there were “poor NE kids that were looking to play” during that time. So we moved our time slot. After a couple days, we inquired about a different time slot. Marks response was that of a 10 year olds temper tantrum. “Stop asking me to switch your time slot, everyone else pays more than you, this is the best you’re going to get”. He initially guilted us in believing he cares for these unfortunate kids only to find out he was charging them more.
Our last experience was similar, another one of Marks tantrums.
Our allocated time was up in 10 minutes. Mark let the rest of the team know that. He had informed me before the session that it’s just us playing on this day. I politely asked Mark if we could get 10 extra minutes to finish our game (20 mins total). The response back had me shocked. Mark screams at me in front of the whole team and the spectators there. “I’m giving you 10 minutes and that’s it. You get off in 10 minutes”. His face went bright red. Quite clearly he was bothered about something else and took it out on us. As a professional, I don’t think I would encourage verbal abuse upon your clients. It’s just not great business practice, is it? When asked why he’s yelling, he quickly flips the narrative and says that I “demanded extra time”. There are about 18-22 people that witnessed this outburst. Further actions will be taken on this display of verbal abuse. All he had to tell me was there’s another group after us. That’s it. End of conversation. I’ve never gone over our allocated time before. I’ve always respected anyone playing after us. It was a simple request for 10 additional minutes. The only reason we asked was because he told us it’s just our team today.
I supported this facility when they were open during the COVID epidemic. When everyone else bailed, I still showed up and paid my monthly dues. I had THE ONLY LEAGUE supporting the WBHL at that time. And this is how he treated us. Extremely disappointed.
Mark doesn’t care for these unprivileged kids clearly and has the tendency to scream/yell at his clients. The verbal abuse was outrageous. I heavily encourage all to stand up if they’ve faced this behaviour from Mark. Stay far away from this organizer, you don’t want your kids around this guy.

Absolutely terrible. Played in the intermediate league, for a few years, price goes up, get less games, and playoffs arent even gaurenteed. Schedule didnt come out till the same day as our game, for our first 3 games! I have kids, how can I commit to sports if I dont even know when I am playing half the time. Mark is an absolute joke, yells at teams for not trying, yells at teams for trying to hard, is micro managing games, you are the owner, not a coach, not a dad, he is way to invloved trying to make a perfect league.terrible staff, ref and owner, absolute joke of an organization.

The rink is alright, but the league is very mismanaged. Mark was very rude to me I wouldn't want my kids playing in this league! The rink is falling apart, their tiles are coming up near the edges and it is never swept. Stay away from this place!

Besides the facility itself being subpar, it is still an acceptable place to play, but the management of wbhl makes it impossible. Please avoid this league, especially if you are thinking about enrolling a child. Sports are about learning teamwork and having fun and the owner mark embodies the complete opposite of that. AVOID!

I was extremely disappointed with the treatment we received at this sports facility, especially considering the fact that we had been loyal customers for the past 4 years and generated close to $40,000 in revenue for the business. Despite our long-term relationship, the manager, Mark, did not treat us with the respect and consideration that we deserved. The overall experience was unacceptable and left a bad taste in our mouths. I would not recommend this facility to others due to the lack of loyalty and regard for long-term customers.

It’s a shame a terrible league like this exists. They are supposed to be a non profit, yet It doesn’t operate like one. Management is rude and terrible. Mark is the manager. Honestly I have no idea how he still works here. The reviews about the owner speak for themselves. Avoid this place!

This is a very mismanaged facility and I warn everyone to stay far away!

The Court we used to play on is within the Calgary Central Sportsplex, who’s website for booking directed us to WBHL. We have been booking the Ball Hockey Rink at this facility for close to 4 years now, through an employee Mark Hallet. Countless times, our weekly timeslot would be changed on us, for no apparent reason. Some sessions would even be cancelled on short notice, due to scheduling errors made by Mark. Talking with the parents and other renters of the arena, they share the same story of randomly changed session times and scheduling errors.

We have been renting every Saturday morning for close to 4 years now; through every Covid Re-opening Phase, we kept the lights on in that facility. We have put close to 40k into this facility over the years, not one penny has gone into repair or upkeep. The washrooms are never clean, with trash cans always overflowing. The courts are always dusty; it is evident they are never swept. There is always a light or two that is flickering, or just not working. There is no AC in the building; this issue made worse by the heater in the facility that the management has been unable to turn off. When asked why the heat would be running all the time, Mark would say they just do not know how to turn off the heater. It is unacceptable for such a facility to have such poor HVAC systems, especially with the Calgary Weather.

The rental costs would be regularly increased, with no forewarning. It was clear that there was pressure from Mark for us to stop renting the rink entirely. He once told us that “Poor kids from the NE” are offering more money than us, and that he would have to give them the timeslot we had for years.

On December 31st 2022, we had our last session. We had originally been told that no one was after us on this day. We were about to start the 3rd period of our game when Mark began yelling at us that we short on time. When asked if there was someone after us and how much time we have left, Mark yelled at us saying that we only had 10 minutes left. Afterwards he came over and told us to find somewhere else to play hockey. He told us we were no longer welcome at this facility, but he had made that clear with his behaviors long before.

I am sure the owner of this place is going to respond back saying that this review is not true, or that they do not have an employee named Mark Hallet. It is disappointing to see a business refuse to see their own wrongdoings. I warn everyone to stay far away from this sketchy place.

Avoid this place at all costs. Horrible arena. Zero up keep. Mark H was a nightmare to deal with.

I have been going to this facility for the last 4 years and I am extremely disappointed at the disrespect I continue to receive from an employee named Mark. Bad experiences are the only thing consistent when dealing with Mark, he has no respect and has continuously made an effort to negatively impact our league. We have been loyal for years, we played throughout the covid pandemic and helped Mark out during that tough time yet he continues to treat us poorly and speaks to us in a demeaning manner. Also, the AC doesn’t work and the floors are not clean and very slippery. Mark is rude and unprofessional, I do not recommend this place.

My son really enjoys the interaction with other kids his age with a similar interest in ball hockey

Whoever runs this league has absolutely no clue on how a hockey league should be run. The league is literally a clown show, not because of the players but the management is Horrendous and it is just hard to see