Elite players attend national camp

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If you were looking to form a pair of quality all-Native hockey teams, you should have been in the country's capital in mid-July.

That's when the third annual National Aboriginal High Performance Hockey Camp was staged.

Forty-six elite bantam- and midget-aged players (23 female, 23 male) participated in the camp held at the University of Ottawa.

The majority of those invited had been selected tournament all-stars at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships, which concluded in Akwesasne, Ont. in early May. A dozen others received special invites to take part.

The camp's purpose was to provide Native hockey players an opportunity to hone their skills under the tutelage of Olympic- and national-level coaches.

"Everything was awesome," said Rod Jacobs, the Aboriginal Sport Circle's high performance program co-ordinator. "We had great kids from all across the country."

Participants played a pair of exhibition contests during the camp. During its first game, the men's team managed to beat a Junior B club from Akwesasne. But it was outmatched in its second outing against a squad comprised of area Major Junior A players, some of whom had been drafted by National Hockey League clubs.

"It definitely gave our boys an idea of what they're shooting for," Jacobs said of the game, which essentially became a scrimmage since a lopsided score was inevitable.

"We wanted them to blow us out of the water," Jacobs added. "I think they did a terrific job of showing us where the kids are and what they have to improve on."

As for the women's team, it played a pair of games against an Ottawa-area women's AA squad. The Native team won both games, by scores of 3-2 and 9-2.

Former NHL player John Chabot, now a coach with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Hull Olympiques, led the camp instruction for the male players. And the head coach for the female players was Wally Kozak, who was an assistant coach for the Canadian women's side that captured the gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.