The Grande Prairie Athletics hosted their annual free kids hockey camp on Monday, December 30 (photo courtesy of MT Actions Photography)

By Liam Verster

Kids Hockey Camp

Record turnout numbers for the Grande Prairie Athletic’s Kids Hockey Camp

Jan 7, 2020 | 5:00 AM

The Grande Prairie Athletic’s saw a record turnout for their yearly free hockey camp.

On Monday, December 30, 114 kids, ranging from 8 to 13 years old, got to take to the ice to run drills and play games with the North Peace Hockey League Senior Men’s Team from Grande Prairie.

Past President of the Athletic’s, Maurice Trudeau, says they’ve been running this camp for the past several years during the Winter Break.

“It’s great for the kids, usually there’s nothing for them to do during that time, so that’s kind of why we do it then. It gets them off the couch, gets them out of the house, gets them out of Mom and Dad’s hair. Gets them out skating and playing hockey and having some fun.”

The kids, whose turnout number far surpassed last year’s number of 76, were divided into groups depending on their age. The Novice kids, aging 8 to 10; the Atoms, who are 11 and 12; and the PeeWees, who are between 12 and 13 years old.

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The groups each had 45-minute sessions on the ice with four Grande Prairie Athletic’s players, to run drills and play games. Trudeau says depending on their ages, they had different activities planned.

“The younger kids we [had] different types of drills, some more skating and pylons and stuff like that, and some relay games and stuff. The games we would play were asteroids, or we would play tag, and stuff like that. It all depends on the age group. And then the older kids who are a little bit more experienced in their hockey skills and stuff like that. So, we would do different drills, we had goalies, there’d be more puck drills, and shooting on goalies, and stuff like that.”

Once their ice time was over, the kids and their parents were taken into the dressing room for snacks and a chance to meet and talk with the Athletics. Trudeau says the kids were excited to meet with them, saying a lot of them reminded him of when he was a kid, looking up to the local players.

Trudeau says having kids on the ice, playing with the A’s, also garnered some interest and awareness in the team.

“The kids really, at the end of each session, when we were in the dressing room, they were going around high-fiving the guys and all that kind of stuff. And their parents very open with ‘thank you’ and all this kind of stuff, and they were even asking ‘Jeez, we’d like to come to a game sometime, when’s your next game?’ so we’d give them some game schedules and stuff”

Though he says the team was able to benefit from hosting the free hockey camp, it is much more important for Trudeau to give back to the kids and get them active and interested in hockey.

He adds that there were lots of skilled kids on the ice for the free hockey camp, noting that a few players have made it out of the Peace Country and into the NHL, including Tanner Fritz, who plays for the New York Islanders and Carter Rowney, who is with the Anaheim Ducks, and that some of these kids may be the next generation to make it big.