Local team set to learn – and have fun – at HockeyFest

The event will consist of on and off-ice training run by members of the Carleton Ravens women’s hockey team and the Ottawa Senators of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. It also includes a stadium tour and a keynote address from Tammy Lee Shewchuk, 2000 and 2001 Women’s World Hockey Championships gold medallist and 2002 Olympic gold medallist.

Stars’ coaching staff hopes having instruction by members of more competitive teams such as the Ravens and the Senators can show the girls what they can achieve.

“Just having them realize that if you work hard you can go pretty far in your sport with the commitment that these women show,” says team manager Carol Clement. “We knew it would be a good opportunity for the girls.”

Coach Tim Belanger agrees that having high calibre players instructing the event will be a motivating factor for the team.

“That’s the highest level of hockey there is to play for these girls, apart from the national team,” he explains. “If they get to practice with them it might give them some kind of incentive to say ‘I’d like to be one of them someday.’”

Clement says that the team is excited to even be skating on the ice at Scotiabank Place, let alone the fact there will be a talk by an Olympic gold medallist.

“Being so close to the Olympics, at their age group, they’re all pretty excited,” says Clement.

The sixth annual event is taking place from 5 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Saturday will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions, with the Stars taking part in the afternoon one.

The event is designed for novice, atom and peewee levels of players, ages seven to 14. It is meant to improve their on-ice game skills and off-ice life skills while celebrating and learning the game of hockey with their peers.

Belanger expects to see the team bond out of the experience and through spending some time together.

While free to participate, the event filled up quickly. This year record numbers meant it was expanded to two days to accommodate more players.

In fact, Clement admits after not being able to get the team registered last year, she did not tell the team she was going to register them, in case there wasn’t enough space for the 17 players on the team.

“It filled up within 15-20 minutes so the last six players had to be put on a waiting list,” she explains. “A few weeks later I got a phone call from organizers saying they were making space for the whole team.”

This is the first year the novice level of girl’s hockey has had a competitive division in the Ottawa region, partly the work of Stars coach Tim Belanger. The Gloucester Cumberland Stars are currently in second place in their five team division.