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© Joseph Leung/Hockey Canada Images

Getting their skates wet

Before they step into the national spotlight at U17 camp, players get their first taste of high-performance hockey at regional U16 events

Lee Boyadjian
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July 29, 2016
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Over the course of six days, Hockey Canada takes 111 individual athletes and turns them into six cohesive teams. That’s before they whittle those 111 down to 66 for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Most of the work comes at Canada’s national under-17 development camp, on the ice as part of the National Teams’ Summer Showcase, but preparation actually starts long before, at the provincial member level.

Three regional under-16 events – the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup, OHL Gold Cup and QMJHL Gatorade Excellence Challenge – give players the chance to experience a short-term event while teaching them what to expect at the national level.

“Those three events are critical for us in setting the landscape of what Hockey Canada expects, but also getting the evaluation perspective of who the top players are,” says Ryan Jankowski, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada.

In all, 103 of the 111 players attending camp in Calgary have U16 experience – 46 at the OHL Gold Cup, 33 at the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup, and 24 at the QMJHL Excellence Challenge.

Players who have experienced both a regional event and the national camp say the framework and format is very similar. The focus starts on team bonding before transitioning into skill and player development.

“It was very long, long days, five days just like this [national camp],” Kaleb Bulych, who patrolled the Saskatchewan blue-line last November, says of the Western Canada event. “You kind of get worked really hard, just like here and you definitely learn how to play under pressure, because it’s hard.”

Some of the pressure, though, is gone by the time the players step onto the ice at the U16 level.

While the QMJHL Gatorade Excellence Challenge doubles as a showcase event ahead of the QMJHL Entry Draft, the OHL Gold Cup and Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup are held after the OHL and WHL drafts, so players can focus on their off-ice experience as much as on-ice.

“For me and all the other guys in the Gold Cup, we realized that all the team bonding really helped,” says Aidan Dudas, a sixth-place finisher with OMHA White. “We got a first step at that, so we’re trying to use what we know here and help everyone come together as quick as possible.”

The regional under-16 events and national under-17 development camp are part of the Hockey Canada Program of Excellence, which was revitalized following the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

After almost 30 years of a five-team regional format for Canadian entries (Atlantic, Ontario, Pacific, Quebec and West), Hockey Canada introduced a three-team national format, with players from every province mixed among Black, Red and White.

The changes have benefited not only the players, but programming at the member and national level as well; through the Program of Excellence, members are now taking on more accountability in preparing their athletes for national camps.

“We like to have a trickle-down effect from U17 and I think we learned a lot of things, especially in year one but even year two, with regards to the little things we do,” Jankowski says. “[Then] having that pushed back to the members so we can continue to grow our program and take steps with it but the provinces and the members take steps with their programs to make their programs better.”

Olivier Rodrigue is another player experiencing the benefit of improved programming first hand. The goaltender backstopped Quebec White to a gold medal at the QMJHL Gatorade Excellence Challenge, and says the lessons he learned in Boisbriand, Que., have been invaluable.

“We had a lot of conferences where we learned how to prepare, especially the mental aspects and everything, got me prepared for [the national camp],” Rodrigue says. “Hockey Quebec inspires themselves off of these programs so it’s been the almost the same.”

As mentioned, the QMJHL Gatorade Excellence Challenge has a slightly different feel to it, with players from Quebec and the Atlantic provinces trying to impress one more time before they find out where they’ll ply their trade in Major Junior.

But Hockey Canada doesn’t see that extra little bit of pressure as a bad thing.

“The nice thing about it is that it’s their draft showcase. So there’s a lot of emphasis from all the members put on the players because of the [QMJHL] draft,” Jankowski says. “That is the last chance for the Quebec league teams to see the players play. And that heightens the competition because the players are playing for their draft status there.”

In Calgary, though, the CHL drafts are done and the focus has shifted exclusively to the national stage and what it takes to get there. Or to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for the 2016 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, which runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 5.

“They’re trying to teach us how to be world-class players and I think that just the little things you pick up, keeping your shoes in order, it’s a good thing to take away,” Bulych says. “The little things are so important because it’s doing that little extra than the next player. So doing the little extra will help make it to the next level.”

“Going to the Gold Cup weekend and soaking everything up and learning and going in with an open mind and taking everything in [was so important] and it’s the same thing here,” says Dudas. “Just learning about nutrition, about preparation, cool downs, just everything. [I’m] taking it in and enjoying it.”

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

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