Hockey school has best year ever
Sports
Posted By TARA BOWIE NORWICH GAZETTE
Updated 1 month ago
Organizers of the 10th annual Tri-County Pros Hockey School are saying this year was its best.
Fifty children from ages five to 12 spent last week developing and honing their hockey skills with two local retired hockey professionals who grew up playing in the Norwich Merchants Jr C organization.
Ryan Vandenbussche played professionally for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers and Geordie Kinnear who played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Thrashers and New Jersey Devils were at the Norwich Arena where young hockey players came from afar to participate in the camp.
George Kinnear, Geordie's dad, helps organize the camp and said Norwich offers everything a hockey school could want.
"The facility and most importantly the staff is what keeps us coming back. They are very very
helpful with everything we need. And the location is central to a lot of communities. We have people from Toronto, Michigan, Kitchener, Port Dover come every year to this camp. They really do come from all over," he said.
The week-long camp includes on and off ice conditioning as well as recreational games.
George said the camp is designed to instil three things, "We want the kids to come and have fun, play hard and teach them what it means to be a good teammate."
The calibre of players and the seasoned coaching staff is what made this year's camp the best yet, George said.
The ratio of coaches to players is about one in five, George explained, adding most of the younger coaches were players in the camp at one time
"Most of the (young) coaches started young at five and six and played till they were too old. Then they became junior coaches and full coaches. It really adds to the experience for everyone," George said.
Ryan and Geordie will be back in Norwich Aug. 16 to 20 to hold a hockey only camp for atoms, novice and tykes. The August camp is an hour and a half program for each category. Anyone interested in can contact George at 519-424-484 or go to the website at www.tricountyproshockey.ca.
