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As in-line hockey makes its third appearance at the Alberta Summer Games, players from all eight zones are gearing up to play.

Local youths from the Mountain View County region are excited to be joining the zone 2 team.

Forward Craig Gans from Olds, goaltender Jay Baustad from Carstairs and forward Curtis Smith from Didsbury will be off to play starting July 27 at the Kinsmen Twin Arenas in Red Deer.

These games promise to be interesting, with Gans squaring off against his Red Deer Sniper teammates who are playing in zone 4.

"It will be good," said Gans. "There will be lots of competition because they are a good team."

Baustad and Smith are in-line hockey teammates for the local team, CD In-line but in ice hockey they compete against each other, Baustad playing for the Carstairs Bruins and Smith playing for Didsbury Ramblers.

All three players want to see in-line hockey get bigger in Canada reflecting the scene in the U.S and other countries.

Greg Baustad, Jay's father and coach of the CD In-line team is glad to see the interest in the sport growing.

"It's a growing sport, we see Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton, the three big centres they are very competitive and very good," Baustad. "We have seen exponential growth here in the past four years. That's great for us and helps for the competition for the kids as well."

Most of the players in Canada play two months out of the year, still focusing on ice hockey during the winter.

While Smith seems interested in pursuing dreams of making it to the NHL, Gans wants to pursue both ice and in-line hockey, and Baustad has dreams of going big in in-line.

He wants to follow the path of his cousin Shane Baustad, who started playing at the Alberta Summer Games and went on to travel to the U.S and abroad to pursue the sport.

Now he is back and is one of the coaches on the zone 2 team.

"He's gone everywhere just for in-line so looking at him, that's what I want to do. I want to go as far as he's gone," said Baustad.

For now this trio will be meeting up soon with their fellow teammates to begin practicing for the tournament.

Gans and Baustad have both played for zone 2 two years ago, but for Smith it will be his first time at the Games.

"I'm excited," said Smith. "This is my first year and I only get one shot at it."

"Going back this year I want to make it more of an advancement, I want to become better," said Baustad. "I still want to have fun, but I want to become better."

Gans echoed his sentiment, and added he is looking forward to winning some games with his zone 2 teammates.

Shawn Bullock, coordinator of development for Hockey Alberta has seen a jump in interest for the sport in the last few years.

"Every year in Alberta our membership goes up," said Bullock, which has helped to increase opportunity for these athletes.

The game differs from ice hockey in a few areas: there is no bodychecking, no offsides, icings or two line passes which keeps the game flowing at a rapid and high scoring pace.

In-line athletes increase their puck and stick handling skills while scoring goals because of their skill rather than size.

Goals scored in games are rarely below the double digit marks.