It was announced at the Weyburn Red Wings' annual general meeting on June 26 that, although the hockey club made a profit, there is still $47,000 in unpaid bills with no line of credit.

The hockey club turned revenues of $408,808 and expenses of $401,536.04 to turn a total profit of $7,272.

"This past year, after three years of debt, we turned a small profit," president Ken Ferguson announced at the meeting.

During her financial report, office manager Tanya Pohl said the Red Wings House fundraiser, the Fly with the Wings Lotto and the Sports Dinner did well in turning a profit, while the Johnny Reid concert, the World Junior A exhibition games and the canceled Terry Clark concert were fundraisers that lost money.

Solutions on how to pay off their long-term debt were discussed at the meeting, with the main topic being the amount of money spent renting ice at the Colosseum. Shareholder Larry Tribiger offered to go before city council to try and get a lower rental fee.

Ferguson said that the Red Wings had talked to council in the past and got nowhere, but it might be worth a try with a new mayor.

Head coach Dwight McMillan thought it was a good idea to go back to the city council. He did warn that whoever goes to city council should focus on the positives of the hockey club, that they have been a business for 46 years and put a lot of money back into the community.

"We need to find out what their feelings are about the Red Wings and what do they think the Red Wings mean to the community," McMillan said.

McMillan also mentioned that they produce "good citizens" by giving out $84,000 each year to players so they can get a post-secondary education.

"I don't know of any other business that gives out money for post-secondary education," McMillan said.

Other ideas that came up included selling more ice logos and sign boards, continuing to grow with the lotto, dropping the earlybird discounts and getting rid of the seniors rate for season tickets.

"We tried the seniors season tickets this year and it really didn't do anything for us," Ferguson said.

The idea was also brought up to have players get sponsors and those sponsors will give $1 for every goal their player scores.

In the hockey operations report, manager Ron Rumball looked at a few of the statistics last year between the first place Estevan Bruins and the Red Wings to show how close the division was.

Last season, Estevan averaged 3.5 goals per game while Weyburn wasn't far behind with 2.89 goals per game. Weyburn did have a better goals against average of 3.4 compared to the Bruins' 3.5 goals against average.

"Needless to say, the statistics were not that unfavourable to the Red Wings," Rumball said.

This season Rumball said that there could be up to six experienced defencemen returning and nine experienced forwards. There will be five 20-year-old players this year and 11 19-year-olds.

"We have excellent prospects in now that will strengthen us in every position," Rumball said.

Training camp will begin on Friday, Aug. 31, with the Red and White game taking place on Sunday, Sept. 2, at 7:30 p.m. at the Colosseum. This year's schedule will consist of 58 games including two games in Saskatoon for the September Showcase on Saturday, Sept. 22, and Sunday, 23.

The home schedule breaks down to two Sunday games, nine games on Tuesdays, two on Wednesdays, 11 on Fridays and three on Saturdays. All home games will begin at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday games will not have early starts this season.

"We have no back-to-back nights," Rumball said, addressing a concern from last season.

Weyburn's home opener will take place Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Colosseum. Billets will be needed before training camp and anyone interested can contact members of the board of directors.

McMillan added to the hockey operations report by saying, "The way I feel is that the snowball has begin to roll to the top. We need to get that snowball bigger, but we need roll up our sleeves and work hard for the next two years or so."

There were questions to McMillan about the officiating in the SJHL because it became an apparent problem last season. He said that the referees must follow guidelines laid out by the referees association and he recommended fans e-mail the SJHL Referee-In-Chief so that the league knows there is a problem.

A change in wording to the Red Wings' bylaws was passed unanimously that night. The bylaw changed would see one-third of the board members retire their position at each annual meets instead of the previous guideline of half of the board members retiring their position.

"The rationale behind this is that your first year is a learning experience and your second year is the more productive one, and we want to keep that going," Ferguson said.

To end the meeting, former Red Wings president Winston Bailey that long-time fan and former board member Tommy Huston was moved from the Weyburn Special Care Home to Tatagwa View and he isn't well. Bailey recommended that the team do something soon to honour him.