With all of the attention the Canada Summer Games got earlier this month, it's easy to forget that the Canada Winter Games are a mere 18 months away.
Carter McLeod lets a wrist shot go during a small-area games drill as part of Hockey NWT's Canada Winter Games identification camp at the Multiplex on Sunday.
Hockey NWT got the ball rolling on its preparation this past weekend as it held an identification camp at the Multiplex for anyone in the NWT who is age-eligible. More than 60 players hit the ice to audition for head coach Mirsad Mujcin and assistants Brad Mueller and Randy Caines.
Mujcin, who is a former Yellowknifer, calls Prince George, B.C., home now but is well-known to the hockey community in Yellowknife.
He offered up his services to Hockey NWT as a way to give back to the territory for everything it did for him and said the weekend was a good chance for him to get a gauge on what's out there.
“I wanted to instill the culture of respect and accountability on the boys and give them an idea about what we as a coaching staff want to do,” he said. “That's how I grew up playing hockey in Yellowknife and I want to give back to those boys.”
Mueller was the head coach of the 2015 Canada Winter Games team, meaning has plenty of familiarity about the process, and Mujcin said having him on board is a big bonus.
“I get to bounce ideas off him and he's able to share what he encountered on the road to Prince George (host city in 2015),” he said. “This is all new to me and having him in the corner is a huge plus.”
The boys were put through their paces on the ice with scrimmages and small-area games and off-ice work with dry land training over the course of the three-day camp.
Mujcin said he was pleasantly surprised with what he saw.
“Discipline and speed are the keys and a lot of the kids seem to have it,” he said. “You could tell some of the kids were a bit rusty and that's because they haven't been on the ice most of the summer but they seemed to get comfortable as the weekend went on.”
He was also happy with the level of respect that the boys showed, which may not sound like much but it went a long way, he added.
“They were cleaning up the locker room after practice and being respectful to everyone around the rink,” he said. “They showed they want to be a part of this and seemed to buy into what we wanted to see.”
One of the players looking for a spot is Luke Kotaska and he said he thought he did alright for his first big taste of camp.
“I thought I fit in,” he said. “It's only the beginning so there's a lot of work to do but I'm going to get better.”
It is only the beginning and there's still plenty of camps to go but the next big event coming up is the 2018 Arctic Winter Games and that is being used as a big tool to see where the boys are in terms of development.
“That's going to take over the focus in the months ahead,” said Mujcin. “We're going to monitor how those who make the team do there and see how good of a Games they have and take that information.”
The next big Canada Winter Games camp is planned for next August.