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After two decades of leading the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association, Kelly Boes is ready to move on to the next chapter.
SMHA announced this month Boes will be retiring from the organization as executive director, a position he’s held since 2006.
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Over his time as executive director, Boes has seen SMHA grow from 216 to 262 teams and add over 600 athletes to now sit at 3,900 players in the city.
There is no firm date for Boes’ exit from the organization, as he will remain in his role until a new executive director is chosen and will assist in the transition process.
Boes spoke with 650 CKOM about his decision to move on from SMHA and what legacy he hopes to leave behind.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
650 CKOM: Where was your mind at being able to make this decision to retire and wrap up 20 years with the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association?
KELLY BOES: It definitely was an emotional decision to make after so long with Saskatoon Minor Hockey. Twenty years is a long time, you make a lot of really strong relationships and meet a lot of great people.
That’s the hard part of retiring, leaving all those people behind. I feel like it’s been a really good run of 20 years, just a good time to leave.
I think I’m leaving it better than I found it and I’m more than prepared to help with the transition to the next person, so we can continue seamlessly here.
650 CKOM: What’s stood out to you in terms of growth over 20 years with the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association?
BOES: We’re in it for the 90 plus per cent of kids that are doing it for fun and doing it for making friends, as opposed to aspiring to make it a career. We don’t do playoffs until U13, a lot of organizations have playoffs in U19, even in U11.
We’ve tried to take the onus off winning and just put it onto player development, having fun and taking some of the pressure off kids, coaches and families.
I really think the other change that was huge was moving to no body checking hockey a while back, especially in the U18 age group where our retention rates have really grown like crazy. I think kids really just enjoy playing the game with their buddies and not really worrying about getting hurt.
650 CKOM: How have you tried to strike a balance between having body checking for the elite levels and growing the other groups of kids who don’t want to hit? What about kids trying to make the jump from different levels of body contact?
BOES: We still offer checking sessions for all the teams still, so the kids are learning safety. It’s not just because of body checks, you could accidentally be hit into the boards.
We’re always trying to promote player safety in that way, so I think that helps going into the season for all the kids to have an understanding of where to be on the ice to make yourself safer. We’re obviously not discouraging kids, we want to see kids play at the highest level we can.
Overall, I think the benefits outweigh the little bits of risk of not having them body checking because the kids are fairly large when they get to U18. The less opportunities for injuries go a long way.
650 CKOM: What support over your time as executive director have you received from your team at Saskatoon Minor Hockey?
BOES: Almost every year here, 90 plus per cent of our board of directors are non-parents. They don’t have kids in the game anymore, so they’re in it for the right reasons.
There’s not a lot of politics involved, people are just doing it for the right reasons. That helps right off the bat when you know you’ve got support above you at the board level that understand what we’re in it for in terms of that vision.
It’s working with so many great volunteer coaches, managers and people in the zones that really do all the heavy lifting and really make people like myself look good by all the work they do. They’re the reasons that kids have fun and want to sign up for the next year, which is always the goal for us.
Whether you’re talking to coaches or managers, if those kids sign up for the next year you’ve done your job because they’re loving the game.
650 CKOM: What’s it like to look back on the first kids you saw going through the system are now having their own children play in different zones throughout the city in 2026?
BOES: It definitely makes you feel older when you see some of the names on some of the rosters now and you remember their parents as players.
I joke that at coaches’ meetings I can look around the room and see some people that I remembered maybe weren’t having a perfect season that I had to suspend them along the way as a player. Here they are coaching again, much more mature and ready to take on leading our kids now.
It’s great to see those full-circle moments, but it does remind you that time has marched on here.
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