Players impressed B.C. Hockey brass during the Male U15 Provincial Camp at the South Okanagan Events Centre over the weekend.
The 160 best hockey players in their age group, showed off their sharp skating ability, skills and vision. Those three things aren’t the main focus. Fred Zweep, the male Program of Excellence co-ordinator for B.C. Hockey, said it is character. That what was discussed with the coaches that will be the staff for the Canada Winter Games in 2018, which the group of players attending the camp will be part of.
“The coaching staff gets to observe that behaviour a year in advance,” said Zweep.
Select players may be invited to the Male U16 Provincial Camp July 11-16 in Shawnigan Lake. The Male U16 Program of Excellence held regional camps in the spring with players then attending the B.C. Cup in Salmon Arm April 20-23.
The camp is also the first step in B.C. Hockey’s Program of Excellence, or as Zweep put it, their introduction to the start of Hockey Canada.
“We get to watch the U20s play every Christmas. That’s what everybody aspires to be. This is really the beginning of it,” said Zweep, the male Program of Excellence co-ordinator for B.C. Hockey.
The event doesn’t place pressure on the players in the sense of roster choices as there were none to be made when it wrapped up Sunday. The provincial camp is geared to give them the experience. As Zweep said, there is nowhere for them to advance to until next year, when they would attend under-16 camps.
To help avoid any on-ice jitters, the players were put through testing in the teams they are part of to help them get to know each other. The players did their testing for the entire first day, then they hit the ice for practice, then it’s game time.
“Once games happen the jitters are gone,” he said. “The excitement of wanting to actually play is there.”
The B.C. Hockey Male Program of Excellence was introduced in 1980 with the mandate to systematically identify and train the province’s elite-level players for high performance hockey events. The overall objective is to increase the chances of athletes from B.C. to compete provincially, regionally, nationally and internationally with the ultimate goal being selected to Hockey Canada’s National Junior or National Senior Team.