Saskatoon hockey legend and olympic athlete Emily Clark hosts camp for aspiring, young players
After a long hockey season, most kids are done with the cold rinks by spring. But for the chance to rub shoulders with a locally grown hockey superstar, you dust off the gear and skate in June.
The second annual EC26 hockey camp wrapped up on Sunday with Emily Clark, Saskatoon hockey player and two time Olympic medallist, who was blown away by the turnout.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” Clark told CTV News.
“To be able to get this off the ground now and have it for the second year in a row. I really want it to be an annual thing. I was looking around during the Q&A and seeing all the girls in their merchandise and jerseys and big smiles, honestly it just makes me so happy. I take so much pride in this weekend, so I’m just happy the kids are having a good time.”
Clark wanted to have a hockey camp in her home community for years, but the pandemic forced her to wait.
But with the momentum of last year’s inaugural all-girls camp, it’s grown with the help of some all-star local coaches like Joelle Evan and Jocelyn Fiala, Willow Slobodzian, Alyssa Wiebe and Emily’s first skills coach, Scott Dutertre.
Together, they’re building the next generation of hockey stars.
“She called me and wanted to put something together,” said Scott Dutertre, Emily’s first skills coach. “She wanted to make sure she had put together some kind of package that really reaches the girls, and not just showing up. She wanted to make sure she could talk to all the girls, get to know them and have a good relationship with them. I think she’s achieved that.”
Despite all the star power from the coaches, they know the value of having fun at hockey camp.
“The values of the camp are hard work, humility and have fun.” Clark said. “For me that’s so important. My journey is having fun while working hard, and being from Saskatchewan, being humble is important. But it also teaches the kids the importance of confidence.”
The product of a weekend full of games, training, skating and learning makes for some tired, quiet rides home in the back seat.
“My older girl has two skates tonight,” said Trevor Iron, who has two daughters in the EC26 hockey camp.
“She has a game later this evening, so she’s going to be super tired and go to bed right away.”
Iron says it’s great to see his daughters motivated and learning.
“It’s all about fun, always motivating the players, teaching them how to lift themselves up and be better players,” he said.
“I can just see the excitement in both my girls.”
But for one athlete who’s learned from the best, she knows how to manage all that activity.
“Just get your rest, eat good food, go back on the ice and have fun,” said Taryn, who plays for Comet Fusion hockey club.
While the sun sets on another successful EC26 hockey camp, Clark says she’s already looking forward to all the smiling faces next season.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.