It’s hard to imagine with all our hot weather this summer that athletes will be venturing to Summerland for our ice.
Yes, that’s right — ice time for hockey camps has been gobbled up for most of the summer. Ice went back into the Summerland Arena last week and it will be well used.
Coming to town is the Gold in the Net - BC hockey camp out of Parksville. Gold in the Net runs hockey camps across Canada and internationally. Their camp commences July 20 to 24 in Summerland.
The following week, the Bulldogs Camp is in from Kelowna run by Greg Holst.
In August, MacGillivray Hockey Training is in led by Bill and Brian MacGillivray.
Our own Summerland Steam Camp and the Eli Wilson Goalie Hockey Camp will be in at the end of August.
“With our local minor hockey organizations, Junior B team, and hockey camps our summer ice is almost fully booked” explained Recreation facility scheduler Nicole Lawrence. “Our arena staff works diligently throughout the summer to accommodate the needs of each camp. Our hope is that our guests to our District enjoy their stay, our municipality, facilities, spread the word and return each year,” says Kim Chadwick Recreation Administrator.
The Bulldogs camp has been running for 19 years.
They have no website; only word of mouth. They have two groups, one midget and one bantam ranging from ages 13 to 17. Greg Holst shares, “We work on speed, skill and play. We run lots of different games so they can work on these skills. We are disciplined and the boys are on time and ready to go. We have a very positive, fun atmosphere but we do work extremely hard.”
“The facility is great and it’s all there in one building.
The players get 20 hours of ice time, two dryland practices a day where we play ball hockey, dodge ball but the favorite of the players is handball,” Holst shares. “The camp is small and personal. Just how I want it to be.”
Gold in the Net hockey schools are run nationally and president Perry Elderbroom explains why he chooses Summerland.
“Of course everyone knows about the great weather and lake atmosphere, but the arena in Summerland has been very accommodating to our needs and it has become a mainstay in our yearly line up for the past 13 years.
As a goalie school, we train goalies from all over the World and all kinds of different levels from the beginners to the pros.
As a former NHL goalie coach, some of the most notable names that I have taught and trained through GITN would be Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, he was not only a student but owned the GITN-Sweden franchise at one point. Others would be Robin Lehner recently traded from Ottawa to Buffalo, Kari Lehtonen of Dallas Stars and Karri Ramo of the Calgary Flames.”
GITN camps in Summerland have a unique mental training component.
“Younger beginner goalies to our new Elite MTC which is Mental Training Course that is the first of its kind. It is where we train the goalie not only on the ice but how to work the mind as hard as the body. All in all we will train about 35 goalies this week. We will have one WHL goalie and one college goalie turning pro this year participating in the camp. We also have a certified GITN staff member from Finland this year Alexksis Vertanen who has played in Finland and continues to study there while training goalies for GITN (Gold in the Net).” Perry Elderbroom says, “Next year we will be celebrating 30 years of goalie development, with programing across Canada and overseas in Finland.
In Summerland participating as a student will be Dylan Ferguson who will be suiting up for the Kamloops Blazers this year as well as college standout Frank Slubowski who will be leaving for a team in Europe.
If you would like to inquire about ice time, please call the Recreation Office at 250-494-0447.
Joanne Malar is the program coordinator for Summerland Recreation, three-time Olympic swimmer, 2012 Olympic Commentator, kinesiologist and holistic nutritionist.