In a sport where the last line of defence decides games, Ladakh and Spiti are about to get their first dedicated lessons on how to stand in the net. Royal Enfield’s developmental ice hockey programme returns for a fourth season this winter with a Goaltender Training Programme, the first of its kind in the initiative, led by international goaltending coach Matt Darlow.

The programme runs from November 9 to 13 at the Nawang Dorjay Stobdan (NDS) Stadium in Leh. Darlow will train goalies from Ladakh and Spiti, adding specialist goaltending expertise to a training pathway that so far has covered players, coaches and match officials more broadly. The company says the aim is to build local capacity so that winter sport in the region can sustain itself.

The wider calendar expands beyond Leh, with coach, referee and player training planned in Leh, Dehradun and Gurugram under internationally experienced instructors. The programmes draw talent from Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Referee training will again be led by Peter Gebei, an IIHF-certified ice hockey professional with more than four decades of experience as a player, referee and officiating coach, who is returning for his second year.

After the specialist sessions, grassroots “Learn to Play” training will run from December 2026 to February 2027. The competitive season follows, with the Royal Enfield Ice Hockey League (REIHL) in Leh and the Spiti Cup in Kaza, both described as India’s highest-altitude tournaments, scheduled for January and February 2027.

Both competitions are entering their fourth year of partnership with Royal Enfield. REIHL is organised with the UT Administration of Ladakh and the Ice Hockey Association of Ladakh, and the company calls it a key platform for emerging talent. The Spiti Cup, organised with the Ice Hockey Association of Lahaul-Spiti, is meant to anchor grassroots engagement in remote villages including Losar, Lalung, Keylong, Lahaul and Sagnam.

Bidisha Dey, executive director of the Eicher Group Foundation, said: “Ice Hockey in the Himalayas belongs to the communities who play it, and our role is to help them build the capabilities to sustain it on their own terms. In Season 4, our goal is to strengthen the local expertise that underpins the sport, equipping local players, coaches, and officials with specialised, world-class skills. Each coach and player trained this season takes us a step closer to a fully community-owned sport, laying the foundational ground for India’s future on the global winter stage.”

The programme also reaches audiences far from the rink. The third edition of Journeying Across the Himalayas, a community-driven festival of stories from the region, takes place from December 3 to 9 at Travancore Palace in New Delhi. It will include an ice hockey experience with a locker-room setup, so visitors can see what the sport means in Himalayan communities.