High performance hockey camp bring scouts to the Yukon

It has only been underway for a few days, but so far the results at the first-ever Yukon High Performance Hockey Conditioning and Evaluation Camp have been encouraging everyone involved.

It has only been underway for a few days, but so far the results at the first-ever Yukon High Performance Hockey Conditioning and Evaluation Camp have been encouraging everyone involved.

The camp is being offered to three different age levels, including Midget/Junior, Bantam and PeeWee.

The purpose is to provide exposure to athletes interested in trying out for junior camps as well as increase the skill and development of younger hockey players.

The Yukon’s High Performance Hockey Camp is being taught by high level coaches and scouts. The event is scheduled to conclude on Sunday.

“These guys are all scouts,” said Jakub Jirousek, the organizer of the hockey camp. 

“These guys all have connections in the National Hockey League and connections in junior leagues, but being around them it has been great and they have opened a lot of doors already for some of our players. If these kids want to further their hockey careers then it’s important for somebody to know about them, someone to identify their skills.”

Jirousek started thinking about the idea of inviting scouts up to Whitehorse after attending High Performance Hockey’s main camp, which runs for the entire month of August in Lethbridge, Alta.

The idea that it was easier to bring a small group of coaches and scouts, rather than having to send out a large group of hockey players to get the same experience made sense to Jirousek, who started working towards this in January.

High Performance Hockey also benefits from this arrangement as the Yukon is a virtually untapped market for hockey talent.

Both parties are hoping to forge a partnership and make this an annual event. Before this can happen a schedule that works for everyone involved has to be agreed upon.

High Performance Hockey holds camps from the beginning of May until the end of August. All of its instructors have professional hockey experience and many of them also have teaching degrees. 

There are a total of six coaches at the Yukon camp and 67 players divided among the three age groups. The youngest player at the camp is 10 years old, but the most of the players are between the ages of 12 to 20.

One of the main differences between the Yukon camp from other instructional sessions held by High Performance Hockey is the fact that it is a little bit more focussed with improving players overall skill level.

The camps that are held in Lethbridge are geared more towards conditioning, where the main goal is to prepare the participants for upcoming junior tryouts.

The Bantam and PeeWee groups are focussing more on breaking down the basics in the sport. The basics include skating fundamentals, such as moving forward, backward, turning and crossovers. Passing, puck handling and shooting are also emphasized.

Some of the drills for the Bantam’s and PeeWee’s include game situations, such as one versus one, two versus two, two versus one and more tactical scenarios.

Creativity is also stressed, which can include having a shootout to conclude a session. Cost to participate in the Bantam or PeeWee group was $450.

The older group concentrates more with drills that help them with improving the flow of the game and puck movement. These drills attempt to get the players to do a lot of things with speed and there is a game at the end of the night.

Cost to participate in the Midget/Junior group was $500, which was more expensive than the other two because of additional ice time.

Dino Caputo, the owner of High Performance Hockey, said he was impressed with the way the players have been doing at the camp.

“I have to give credit to where credit is due to these kids,” he said. “Their work ethic is unbelievable. We thought they were going to peter out a little bit, but they keep on going and they are very excited to be on the ice.”

Bill Katelnikoff is the instructor for the PeeWee and Bantam age groups at the camp. He said there is a real advantage to having the camp stretched out over the course of seven days.

“You can really get that progression approach in there, especially with the younger players,” he said. “With the younger players it is really about breaking down the skills.”

Katelnikoff, who played five years of university hockey and has been coach for two years, said his goal is to improve the technical aspect of the game for the Bantam and PeeWee players.

“They might not be able to it 100 per cent,” he said. “They might not be the best player all of a sudden, but they will kind of start to understand what they need to do and you can see that when they are doing drills.”

Colton Yellowhorn, 21, played for the Tri-City Americans last season and was the runner-up for the player of the year in the Western Hockey League. He is helping to teach the Midget/Junior group at the High Performance Hockey Camp.

Yellowhorn said the players are doing well at the camp.

“There are some really good skill players out there and at the same time they all come to compete every day,” Yellowhorn said.

“They work hard and that’s the big thing. It’s hard to teach work ethic and all the kids up here have that. It’s just good to see that they are willing to learn anything and they try everything.”

Yellowhorn credits the players success to a lot of little things.

“There’s good work ethic, good skill, and some kids have good vision out there,” he said. “There is a lot of little things that can help these kids go far and some of them have it and some of them have worked really hard to get, so that’s the big thing.”

Adam Henderson is one of the players in the Midget/Junior group and said this is the best hockey camp he has ever been to in Whitehorse.

“All of these instructors are really good and everything is running real efficiently,” he said. “We are just having fun out there and just really working hard, trying to get better.”

Henderson said he participated in the camp to get back into shape before he heads off to Michigan State for the upcoming school year.

He said the camp will go a long way towards helping him prepare for his first season playing college hockey.

“It’s pretty huge season and this thing will be sort of a stepping stone to it,” Henderson said. “This is going to a long way because we have never really had one up here at this sort of pedigree.”