Chris Lewgood exited the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins’ summer hockey school impressed with the talent of local minor hockey players.
The Bruins hosted a summer camp from Aug. 14 to 19 at Affinity Place. It was an opportunity for local hockey players to build on their skills, learn from Bruins players and others and get ready for the upcoming season.
Lewgood, who is entering his fifth season as the team’s head coach and general manager, said this was the first time the club has hosted a camp in a number of years. He said the club didn’t want to host a camp when Fleck’s Extreme Hockey School was operating in the community, since they were doing a good job of teaching skills.
“It made sense to let them continue,” said Lewgood. “But with them not having a presence here anymore, it’s just a no-brainer for the Bruins to pick up the slack.”
The 40 players who attended the camp were divided into three groups based on their age. Each group had two on-ice sessions each day. One was an hour long and was dedicated to skill development, and the other was 90 minutes and was for skills, games and concepts.
Each group also had classroom time and off-ice training.
“Probably the most exciting part about the whole thing was the immense improvement that we on a lot of the kids,” said Lewgood. “Now, of course, at this time of year, guys are knocking some rust off, and getting back into the swing of things, but the improvement we saw … was a lot of fun.”
Seven Bruin players served as instructors. Lewgood and Carter Duffin – the club’s new director of operations and assistant coach – also helped out. Dylan Lafrentz was responsible for off-ice training, and City of Estevan program manager Erin Wilson looked after pool activities.
A lot of the kids at the camp were from Estevan, but Lewgood said they had a good turnout of players from other southeast communities, and a couple from other places.
Lewgood praised the Estevan Minor Hockey Association and the other minor hockey associations in the area for the work they have done in developing players.
“The current executive for minor hockey has taken some progressive steps to improve, and I think it’s just like our Bruins program. It’s going to continue to grow,” said Lewgood. “The game is changing, the resources are changing, and if you’re not adapting every year, you’re going to fall behind.”
The Bruins have enjoyed working with minor hockey, he said, to try to develop new things, and it’s something they need to continue to do.
Hockey schools allow the Bruins to see how much talent there is in the various age groups.
“It’s going to keep the kids of Estevan on a level playing field with the other communities,” said Lewgood.
The instructors at the camp enjoyed their time with the kids and their families throughout the week as well, he said.
The camp wrapped up with scrimmages on Aug. 19, in which the kids in each age group played scrimmages against the Bruin players.
Lewgood said local hockey parents can look forward to seeing the camp become an annual event, and he hopes the numbers will grow.
