The Cowichan Secondary Thunderbirds hockey teams have joined forces with the Duncan Royal Bank branch and Cowichan Valley Capitals head coach Brian Passmore to offer a spring hockey program for male and female players of all ages.
The program will run from April 15-20 at the Island Savings Centre, offering five on-ice sessions and one off the ice, where they will work on hockey IQ, and fitness and nutrition. With the exception of the first session, which runs on a Sunday, the rest will take place after school.
The goal of the program is to assess where the players’ skills are, and give them a road map for success. It will also serve as an introduction to the Thunderbird hockey program, which has played an integral role in creating an Island-wide high school hockey league.
“The goal of the program is to work with kids in advance of their summer to help them plan how to approach summer and set them up for greater success in the fall,” T-Birds head coach Mike Moroz explained.
Leading the way will be four Cowichan Secondary coaches, including a full-time goalie coach, Passmore, and volunteers from RBC. RBC offered to get involved after the T-Birds approached them about sponsoring their teams.
“We are always looking for community partners, so we reached out to RBC, and they wanted to do something more hands-on,” Moroz said. “A number of branch personnel will be on the ice for a day. They’re a pretty awesome community partner.”
Participants in the camp will be divided into four groups: atom/peewee male, atom/peewee female, bantam/midget male, and bantam/midget female.
The program has already proven popular, but some space is still available. The cost is $150 for current Thunderbird players and all goalies, or $175 for skaters who aren’t currently with the T-Bird program. To register, or for more information, contact Moroz at mmoroz@sd79.bc.ca
The Thunderbird hockey teams all experienced success at the Ross Cup hockey tournament hosted by Brentwood College School earlier this spring. The Cow High girls team finished second to the Triport midget girls team, the junior boys also finished second, behind St. George’s School, and the senior boys placed third behind St. George’s and Brentwood.
“We were pretty happy with the results,” Moroz said.