For LoganandBrock

Hirsche’s number 10 on each side of the logo, complete with each player’s initials.

“The jerseys look great and they did a great job on them to honour two players in Lethbridge that meant a lot to the hockey community in the city and I’msure more than just hockey as well,” saidVersteeg, who played with the Calgary Flames last season and is now an unrestricted free agent. “It’s good that people in so many ways are trying to help out in the way anyone can and keep the memories alive. I’mhoping that never stops.”

Special guest instructor and Taber product Brandon Davidson noted the importance of honouring the hockey family.

“The people that were lost in Humboldt along with Brock, those losses cut deep and for us to honour that is special to us,” said Davidson, who played with theMonteal Canadiens and Edmonton Oiler last season before winding up the with the NewYork Islanders. “We knew those guys as a member of our community and our hockey family. It’s such a close knit family in the hockey community. We are still together here and we’re going to honour them in anyway we can and it means the world to us that we get the chance to do that in their memory.”

Nine years into the camp’s operation after taking it over from the Sutter family, theVerSet Skills Camp remains just as hot a stop among summer conditioning camps as the weather outside Thursday afternoon with all spots filled up inMarch.

“It’s been great. Ever since we’ve taken over the school from the Sutters it’s been nothing but great to be a part of, to see the kids come out year after year,” saidVersteeg. “I’msure playing in Calgary did a lot with the popularity and why it sells out so soon. Usually it would be sometime in June or something, but right now we have a lot of kids onwaiting lists. We contemplated doing two weeks, but it’s just so hectic. It’s too bad that you can’t get to everybody and help out everyone, but I’mjust happy that all these kids can come out.”

Davidson’s past NHL season took him pretty much coast-tocoast, but for the past week the 26-year-old Taber boy was able to come home.

“It’s one of those weeks we really look forward to,” said Davidson, who likeVersteeg is also an unrestricted free agent. “We get a lot of kids that return every year and I think the general consensus we’ve had over the past little while is we create this good atmosphere for these kids to come in and also develop and grow their hockey skills, but also their social skills. It’s all about being a kid and having fun and making sure it’s a good environment to be around. So far so good. I know we have one more day and then we get the hockey games on Saturday. The kids are a little tuckered out today, but they’re doing well. I think from the staff everybody is been very happy with how everything is gone, the parents as well. The parents come from a long distance and they bring their kids andwe want tomake sure it’s worth it for the kids and the parents.”

Since shifting the camp from Coaldale to Taber, the weeklong camp has thrived and reached other parts of southern Alberta outside of Lethbridge, Coaldale and Taber.

The week-long camp caters to players aged five to 13 as well as bantam, midget, major junior and pro players and includes over 12.5 hours of onice instruction, individual and group instruction, daily powerskating, dryland activities and games and supervised swimming.

The wind-up games will take place Saturday towrap up the camp.

“We have kids fromall over, fromMedicine Hat and Brooks being the majority and in Taber as well,” saidVersteeg. “We actually have a ton from Calgary as well from all those areas, which is nice. After coming to Taber we were a little bit worried if we were going to have the same numbers, but people seem to still sign up and still want to come over the nine years and it’s great to see. As long as people still want to keep doing it, we’ll keep doing it for them.”

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