Two communities strengthen relationship thanks to annual hockey camp

The sport of hockey is helping bring two communities closer together as a result of a couple of camps put on in Whitehorse and Lethbridge, Alberta.

The sport of hockey is helping bring two communities closer together as a result of a couple of camps put on in Whitehorse and Lethbridge, Alberta.

Both camps are being hosted by the High Performance Hockey Training Academy, which began its lone Yukon edition on Monday.

This is the second year High Performance Hockey has made the trip up to Whitehorse, however this time it brought eight Lethbridge hockey players as well.

Six of the Lethbridge kids are helping out with the instructions, but are also participating in the junior group, while the remaining two are playing in the bantam age level.

“I just think it’s neat to come up here and experience Whitehorse in the summer,” said Dino Caputo, director of the High Performance Hockey Training Academy. “I think you won’t find a better quality camp if these kids were going to travel, so to bring it here is pretty neat for sure.”

There are also plans for some Yukon hockey players to travel to Lethbridge in August for its annual camp.

The Lethbridge camp runs for the entire month of August and draws more than 200 participants, who come from a number of southern Alberta communities including, Medicine Hat,  Brooks, Pincher Creek, Taber and Ft. MaCleod.

The Yukon kids would probably stay for a week, Caputo said.

The second edition of the Whitehorse camp has more than 130 participants, ranging in age from six to 22 years old.

“They are just pretty eager,”  Caputo said. “We got to know them last year and it’s a pretty big complement when they come back again. We have increased the numbers.”

He said he hopes to build on what was taught last year.

“You always make things a little bit bigger, a little bit better every year,” he said.

“We have a good core of instructors to choose from. Our instructional staff is outstanding and then when we have our junior guys added to it, it’s a lot of fun.”

The camp includes an on-ice and off-ice aspect for each age group. It’s being held at the Canada Games Centre and the broomball court off Range Road.

Some of the off-ice aspects include fitness and skill development. The High Performance Hockey Training Academy camp concludes on Saturday.