Servus Credit Union Place became hockey heaven for hundreds of aboriginal kids last week as they hit the ice to train with real stars from the NHL.
About 280 boys and girls came to Servus Place last week to take part in the first annual First Nations Hockey School Academy, a hockey camp aimed at aboriginal youths.
Allan Beaver of Edmonton said he organized the camp to help kids get the high-level training they couldn’t get on reserves. “There’s so much negativity amongst the First Nations,” he said, referring to the shooting death of a five-year-old boy in Hobbema earlier this month, but there are also a lot of talented players in them that could make it in the big leagues. “We want to empower and motivate them, and encourage them that they can do it.”
He chose Servus Place as the location of the camp due to its staff and its proximity to First Nations kids. “The staff have been so good to us here,” he said, and he praised them greatly.
The camp, which was open to everyone, put players from across Canada through a week of intense skating, shooting and conditioning lessons. “A lot of these kids don’t know what proper exercise is,” Beaver added, so there were also many sessions on proper fitness, diet, and discipline. “There’s more to it than being good on the ice.”
The camp gave students a chance to experience life outside the reserve and to train with real aboriginal NHL players, Beaver said. “These guys have made it, and you guys have the potential to do it.”
Zane Avery, 12, was one of the many players to suit up in the camp’s black-and-white uniforms for some ice-time with the stars. The Spruce Grove resident has been playing hockey for six years and joined the camp to sharpen his skills and meet new friends. “It’s really exciting to meet people in the NHL and skate with them,” he said.
One of those pros was Brandon Nolan, a retired left-winger with the Carolina Hurricanes. Hockey was always part of his life growing up in Ontario’s Garden River First Nation, he said.
“My dad was always making a rink for us outside,” he said.
Nolan said he knew of about 15 aboriginal players in the NHL, plus a few more in the lower-level pro leagues in North America and Europe. Only a small percentage of amateurs get to play professionally, but it is possible, he said.
“There’s no point in playing hockey unless you have dreams,” he said.
Although he spent a lot of time on skating and edgework, Nolan said some of the most important lessons for his students were about respect and teamwork. “We want to teach hockey skills, but we also want to teach them to be good people,” he said.
He saw hockey camps like this one as a way to teach people how to live clean, work hard and be successful.
“I’m from a small reserve myself, and we’re not going to grow as aboriginal people if we just continue to do the same things,” he said.
For information on next year’s camp, visit www.fnhockeyacademy.ca.
