Hockey Alberta, Canes benefit community
Black Friday is past and it is time to start checking names off the Christmas list. I am guilty for shopping more for myself than others on Black Friday, but I did get a start on my Christmas shopping.
I am a big fan of Christmas, and when you have kids still enjoying the spirit of Santa Claus it makes this time of year even more exciting. Not to mention as busy as my job is most of the year, the Christmas season tends to slow down and allow for some recharging of the batteries.
I have spent some time in my articles promoting some of the initiatives that were available to coaches this past month. I can now brag that I am extremely happy with how these clinics went.
It has been a privilege that Fran Gow has made three trips to Lethbridge this year to help support our coach development initiatives. The front desk at the Best Western has probably enjoyed seeing him as often as they have to this point and will probably miss his presence the next couple of months. I am sure the casino will miss him as well. Fran brings over 1,000 games coached in the AJHL and is currently the vice-president of the AJHL. I really enjoy bringing Fran in and having such a great voice from outside our community help support our game.
As well, this year we ran another successful WHL Game Day Clinic on Tuesday night with the Hurricanes playing host to the Portland Winterhawks. We had 28 participants who got to listen to Gow, Mike Johnston and Brent Kisio talk hockey as well as watch the Hurricanes complete a great come-from-behind victory against one of the best teams in the WHL.
Mike Johnston certainly has built a great team in Portland and did a fabulous job teaching concepts to our coaches. The concepts part is what I feel is extremely important to remind coaches. Mike talked about the concept of supporting the puck and the concept of making passes. It is not a secret potion of structure that gets taught to high-level players; it is not a secret forecheck or a secret powerplay that makes teams or players great. It is having the skill to be able to think the game that makes for elite players.
Last but not least I have to thank Brent Kisio for his great presentation. I know it is extremely challenging in a small community like Lethbridge to be the head coach of the Hurricanes. I can imagine Brent can’t go to the grocery store, coffee shop or anywhere else without being quizzed on the recent play of the Hurricanes (good or bad). I also know in a small community there are those of you who probably think you could coach the Hurricanes better than Brent (I assure you, if you think you can do a better job, you can’t).
Which is why I have a greater appreciation for Brent coming in and talking to our coaches. For Brent to embrace being the face of junior hockey in Lethbridge and embrace his role in growing the game in our community is certainly admirable. The fact is he cares enough to help improve youth sport in our community, to help promote positive experiences for our youth by making the game better for them. It is also great that he is willing to be the face of the Hurricanes, an organization that many in this community live and die by.
Brent made the joke that he doesn’t have the experience at doing presentations as Mike Johnston does. I know from experience that public speaking isn’t the most enjoyable part of any job, as I am sure every coach who attended on Tuesday can attest, Brent does an incredible job at passing on his knowledge of the game.
It is now my job to poke and prod Brent to continue to do presentations for Hockey Alberta, as in my experience, he truly is one of the better presenters and a great person to deal with.
I’d also like to thank a few other members of the Hurricanes who have been great to deal with in supporting Hockey Alberta’s initiatives. The business staff of Terry Huisman, Tamara Nelson and Dylan Thornborough and the hockey staff of Pete Anholt, Andrew Doty, Bob Bartlett and Brent Kisio. I really appreciate their support of grassroots hockey in our community and them allowing Hockey Alberta to overrun their office for an evening.
The Hurricanes are hosting their annual Celebrity Sports Dinner on Jan. 27 with special guests Kate Beirness, Jamie McLennan and Natasha Staniszewski. Last year it was a great event and even though the Hurricanes have to play the Moose Jaw Warriors the night before, I know that this year will be a great event as well. Anyone interested in more details should contact Tamara Nelson for more information.