With local minor hockey players getting ready for the upcoming season, some 50 players from here and the surrounding communities sharpened their on-ice skills at a local hockey school.
The TSC hockey school is run by former junior hockey players Mike Schwindt, Scott Tregunna and Andrew Coburn.
Those attending were also treated to some training from Nashville Predators forward and Drayton native Nick Spaling and past Team Canada junior goaltender Mark Visentin, of the Phoenix Coyotes.
“It’s pretty productive,” Tregunna said of the skills taught at the half-day school run over five days in late August.
“It’s just really fun, “ Mount Forest minor hockey player Luke Cowen said of this year’s school. “It’s nice to get back on the ice before the hockey season starts.” It was his third year attending the local hockey school.
Tregunna said the kids attending the school represent all levels of minor hockey, including house and rep leagues. They were taken through skating drills, puck handling and on-ice plays.
“There’s some good hockey players,” Tregunna said of the calibre of hockey among those attending the school.
He said skating and puck handling are elements of the game many of the students need to work on.
“That’s what it’s like when you’re young,” he said of the areas that need improvement. “They really need more ice time.”
Coburn, on the school’s website, said having NHL players who come from small communities and modest backgrounds goes a long way to showing young players that anyone has a chance to realize their potential and their dreams.
“We want to show the kids that these guys grow up in small towns, and are living their dreams,” he said. “Anything is possible.”
