Hockey season in Westlock has started with the annual I Love Hockey event on Saturday. The event is designed for the Initiation division and is the perfect way for them to ease into hockey and learn some basic skills in the process.
Hockey season in Westlock has started with the annual I Love Hockey event on Saturday.
The event is designed for the Initiation division and is the perfect way for them to ease into hockey and learn some basic skills in the process.
'It's the first time for kids and parents to come out and see the structure of hockey," said program coordinator Bryan Carnegie. 'It's to encourage them to see how fun it could be."
About 25 kids aged mostly five or six took to the ice, where a selection of coaches ran them through several drills to learn different skating manoeuvres, as well as just improve their skating on the whole.
They started with practising how to get back on their skates should the inevitable happen and they fall.
That was followed up by some laps of the rink before moving on to the drills.
Carnegie explained the turnout was pretty good for the first day, while adding the Initiation teams will continue accepting new registrations for the first few weeks.
The hope there is kids will talk to their friends and spread the hockey bug.
For the kids themselves, the day was quite a blast.
Taylor Copeland, 5, said he liked the skating and stopping, as well as the stickhandling.
He was also a bit of a beast on the ice, scoring a goal in the mini game the kids played before their time was up.
'I just love it," he said. 'I'm excited to play."
Even though he's still so young, he said he wants to be an Edmonton Oiler some day, just like Jordan Eberle.
Another budding hockey star, five-year-old Coby St. Arnaud said what he liked the best about the day was skating hard and shooting pucks.
It was his first time playing hockey on skates, even though he's had plenty of experience playing street hockey before Saturday.
Having so many kids out on the ice, as well as their parents in the stands, bodes well for the future of minor hockey in Westlock, Carnegie said.
'Your hockey foundation is only as good as your bottom," he said, stressing you need those new families to join to keep the sport going.
The key part of the day was to work on skills, but to keep it fun at the same time.
'That's the biggest part - the fun," he said.
Although there are many ways to evaluate the day in order to tell if it was a success, Carnegie said with how many kids were laughing and enjoying themselves, he has no doubt it was a successful event.
That was even more apparent when it came to several of the first-time skaters, many of whom showed a lot of progress in the 90 minutes they were on the ice, he said.
