Skip to content

Hockey performance camp returning to Prince Rupert

It won't be the Prince Rupert Skating Club, the Minor Hockey Association or the Rupert Rampage that are the first ice users.

It won't be the Prince Rupert Skating Club, the Minor Hockey Association or the Rupert Rampage that are the first ice users of the 2014-15 season.

The Lou Lemire "Pursuit of Dreams" summer hockey skills camp is coming to Prince Rupert for its seventh year, and Rupert kids are hoping the skills they learn will translate on the ice in their Prince Rupert Minor Hockey (PRMHA) experience.

"Our philosophy, obviously, is skill development and we've got a program built around making the skills fun so the kids are working hard yet they are practicing their skills," said Lemire.

The camp, which runs from Aug. 18 – 22, includes on-ice sessions, dryland training, floor hockey and stick-handling drills, among other sessions.

Lemire divides the participants into age and skill level and stresses that skills and fundamentals are needed to form a complete hockey player.

"A bit of both, you can't have one without the other so we teach them the skill and then they practice it and then I have some games and fun with that and the kids really enjoy that aspect of it," he said.

Along with the minor hockey camps, the school offers training with an adult camp and a camp designed for members of the CIHL's Rupert Rampage.

"The adult camp is in the evening from 7 to 8:15 [p.m.] and then the Rampage are on from 8:30 to 10 [p.m.]," said Lemire.

The school first came to Prince Rupert when a family who had taken part in the camp in Terrace mentioned to Lemire that they should facilitate a Rupert school.

"I thought, 'Hey if I'm in Terrace, I might as well be in Rupert'. So eventually Terrace didn't work out and (the PRMHA) jumped on board and they've been really supportive and helping me out from day one.

"The community's very supportive and we're going to continue to come to Rupert. We get looked after very well."

The camp is entering its 12th season of existence.