Hockey school has culture mix

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Hockey schools can offer young skaters a lot of important pointers on the ice, but often the off-ice activities aren't as rewarding. Transportation to and from the arena or back to a hotel, on a bus, off a bus, and back on a bus again can make a multi-day hockey school seem like a grueling experience.

That's what Reg Cardinal and Irwin "Dino" Letendre thought also. So the two Alexis First Nation men decided to put on a hockey school where the teaching off the ice was just as important - and probably more important - than the drills taught on the ice.

The second annual Stoney Nation Hockey School, held in Westlock from Aug. 16 to 22, had all the usual elements - there were coaches from semi-professional teams, drills meant to speed up the skating, strengthen the stamina and improve puck handling, but there were also some extra components.

"In a camp we had a tipi village, with nine tipis out there, a cook tent, horseback riding, and the Elders were out there to talk about the tradition of our people," said Letendre, who was the program director at for the school.

The camp was set up just outside Westlock, beside the main highway, so not only did it serve as a camp-site and cultural centre for the 46 kids enrolled in the hockey school, it also became a tourist attraction as people drove toward the Westlock townsite.

"People would drive by and stop to take a look, it was pretty awesome," said Letendre.

The kids in the camp also had a blast.

"A lot of the kids didn't want to leave," said Letendre.

The cultural camp idea and the traditional teachings are new this year for the hockey school. Last year the focus was only on the hockey.

"Last year, we went to Edmonton. We were on a bus, trained, had lunch, trained, then back on a bus and that was the day. This year we wanted to do a little more," he said.

Letendre and Cardinal wanted to provide all of this to the kids for as little money as possible. Their main reason for the hockey school is to teach and educate kids at a level which other hockey schools and clinics charge far more for.

At the Stoney Nation Hockey School, registration was only $100 for the six days, and that included food and accommodation.

Letendre said Cardinal, who attends the University of Maine, playing university-level hockey for the Maine Black Bears, has a degree in Commerce and started the hockey school as a project for one of his university courses.

"He took a course and was asked what he would like to do for a business and in his life. He picked a hockey school for First Nations kids who cannot afford some of the other expensive hockey schools," said Letendre. "That's the main objective - to bring quality, on and off ice instruction, to kids who cannot afford the real thing."

From the sounds of this year's success, next year, the third annual Stoney Nation Hockey School will draw even more kids to learn about a sport they love and a culture which loves them.