It was, in the words of Will Howe, a hail Mary.
Back in April of this year, the Dawson Creek Junior Canucks were looking at having to cancel their Hockey Camp.
The Dawson Creek city Council had just increased the price of putting in ice in August from $125 per hour to $376 per hour.
2019 would have been the third time the Junior Canucks would have been hosting their successful summer hockey camp, but the cost of the ice was going from $6,250 to $18,750, which would have put the camp $4000 in the hole. “We just can’t do that as a non-profit organization,” said general manager Colby Wagar at the time.
But for the last few years, Tumbler Ridge has been putting in ice early as well, so Howe—who in addition to sitting on the town council is a minor hockey coach—suggested that the camp could be held in Tumbler Ridge.
He put Wagar in touch with District CAO Jordan Wall, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Howe says the camp has been well received by all attendees—coaches, kids and parents. “The community Centre staff has been going over and above,” he says, saying that the coaches were delighted to find a fresh pot of brewed coffee in their room every morning.
Because Tumbler Ridge doesn’t have the same infrastructure as Dawson, town council has tossed in a few things to sweeten the deal, including discounted rates for parents to go golfing while the kids are at the hockey camp. “Some people have played more golf this last week than they have in the last five years,” says Howe.
Howe is optimistic that this can be turned into a summer tradition. He says that the camp was full, with 96 kids, while another 25 kids had to be turned away, and at least another 25 who never applied because the camp was already full.
He says if it does go ahead next year, he’d love to see more community involvement. While this year the Community Centre was put to good use—not just the ice, but the pool saw heavy use from players and parents, as well as dry land training and video training elsewhere in the building—next year he’d love to see other community groups get involved: dinosaur trackway tours in the evening and trips to the museum are just a couple of the possibilities he sees.
The camp saw players from around the BC and Alberta Peace, and from as far away as Saskatchewan.
