Players from tyke to midget were put through the paces last week in Gibsons at the annual Sunshine Coast Hockey School.
Headed up by David Arduin with Geneseo teammate Stefan Decosse, Coast hockey players got an edge for the upcoming season with vigorous training sessions on and off the ice.
"The numbers were great and substantially higher than last year," said Arduin. "We had 13 tykes, 24 novice and atoms, 14 peewees and 18 in the bantam/midget group. Overall I'm very pleased with the numbers. A lot of old faces and new faces, so it's good to know that the word is getting around about the camp and word of mouth is spreading it really well."
Arduin said with the younger players, the focus was teaching the players a new skill every day.
"In the morning, we taught basic skills like the forward stride to new kinds of starts, edge control and backwards skating, and then in the afternoon, things like stick handling, passing and shooting," he said. "So we cover the basics and incorporate some new drills that they have never seen before. Everyone seems to enjoy it."
With the older players, Arduin said the idea is to step things up even higher.
"The older group works pretty hard. They come to work the next day sore, and we've had a few drop out during the week, but that just happens when you work hard and kids who want it are back and they're working hard," Arduin said. "It's great to see and it's pretty much why I put the camp on for kids like this who want to succeed."
This year's camp marked the third year Arduin had been head instructor. Arduin, who played minor hockey on the Coast and went onto an impressive junior career with Vernon and Trail, is going into his final year at Geneseo, the State University in New York.
He had an impressive 2010/11 campaign where Geneseo had the best year ranking-wise in 20 years and, at one point in the season, were ranked fourth in the nation.
The team lost in the conference semifinal playoffs on home ice in double overtime, a point that seems to add more fuel to Arduin's fire as he prepares for this season.
"I had an injury-free season, my first in a long time, and finished third on the team in scoring," Arduin said. "Going into this final season, Stefan and I are pretty amped up for a big regular season, a long playoff run and a championship. We lost six seniors, but we have a strong core, and this is an all-in season. The end goal is an NCAA championship. Last year the feeling was it would be nice to win. This year we have to win."
