The Pond Hockey Portal!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
On frozen pond / Summer hockey camp in Missoula
Mike Rutter of Missoula has no idea how much dough he's spent taking his 14-year-old son Derek to hockey camps during the summer.
“It's been a small fortune,” he says. “Thousands of dollars. We've gone to St. Louis and to the far reaches of Canada for camps.”
Which makes the $315 he's spending this week look like a bargain.
By all accounts, it is.
The first summer hockey camp ever held in Missoula wraps up Friday. Ninety kids, ages 5-17, have been on the ice.
Ice - or lack of it - is why there hasn't been a summertime hockey camp in town before.
“We've had the rink for nine years,” says Gary Jahrig, director of the Missoula Area Youth Hockey Association. “But this is the first time it's been fully enclosed, which allowed us to hold a summer camp.”
It is - literally - the coolest sports camp in town. The temperature inside the rink at the Missoula County Fairgrounds is 20 degrees.
“It's got to be saving families who would have taken their kids to Calgary or Denver or Minnesota for camps $1,000,” Jahrig says.
“At the very least,” Rutter says. “Just going to the camp in Penticton (British Columbia) is a full day's drive both ways, plus meals and motels.”
Rocky Mountain Hockey Schools of Breckenridge, Colo., which puts on weeklong camps throughout the Rocky Mountain West, is in charge of this camp.
They'll move on to other venues, from Santa Fe, N.M., to McCall, Idaho, to Cody, Wyo., to Steamboat, Colo., as the summer progresses.
“It's really helping,” said 13-year-old Aaron Golie, an eighth-grader at Washington Middle School who's been playing hockey since the age of 4. “It's giving me a different perspective of hockey, showing me different strategies on how to make myself a better hockey player.”
“They have really good coaches,” says Big Sky High School sophomore Jordan Spoonemore. “They're pushing me to do better, and really helping with my form.”
Michigan native Bryan Smith, who owns Rocky Mountain Hockey Schools, is in charge. His staff of coaches includes Dave Ruhly, head coach at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and others who have played professional minor league hockey.
Rocky Mountain Hockey Schools pays the Missoula Area Youth Hockey Association $150 an hour to rent the rink and conduct the camp.
“The participation here has blown me away,” Smith says. “I'm amazed at the numbers of hockey players here.”
Jahrig says there are 450 members of the youth hockey association, and 700 adults who play in Missoula.
“We have 38 men's teams, and there's not 38 men's teams in the rest of Montana combined,” Jahrig says.
“The skill level here has been awesome,” Smith says. “The beginning and intermediate kids have blown me off my feet. There are kids here with the potential to do some things in hockey. It's definitely over the level I expected.”
The youngest players, labeled “mites,” spend half the day at camp, and pay a $200 fee to participate.
Those 8 and over are here for full days, pay $315 for the week, and get a minimum of three hours of ice time a day, chalk talks that cover everything from hydration to sports psychology, and off-ice training as well.
“The dry land training is amazing,” says Spoonemore, the Big Sky student. “Dry land really hurts. The worst part about hockey is dry land training, but that's where it all starts. You've really got to work hard.”
Campers also take breaks from hockey to do things like visit Splash Montana, Missoula's new water park.
While the majority of hockey players at the camp are saving money because they're living at home, it's not true for everyone.
Steve Gorman of Ithaca, N.Y., has brought his son Teddy - and Teddy's friend Timmy Bollinger of St. Louis - to Montana for this camp.
“I was looking for hockey camps and found this on the Internet,” Gorman says. “We usually go to a camp in Maine but it conflicts with a camp in Ithaca at the same time. I found this and said, ‘Great, let's go to Missoula - we've never been to Montana.' ”
He does have one complaint.
“I'm disappointed we're not going to get to see more,” Gorman says. “There's no time to see Glacier Park, or even get up to Flathead Lake. I'd like to see more, but it's a big state.”
Gorman and the boys have climbed to the “M,” hiked the trails along Rattlesnake Creek and visited A Carousel for Missoula.
“They want to go back to the carousel,” Gorman says. “It seems an odd thing for a couple of 10-year-old boys, but they loved the carousel.”
And, he says, they're just as tickled with the camp.
As are many Missoula parents, who this summer need only drive a few blocks or miles for their children to get the instruction they previously had to go hundreds or thousands of miles for.
“We're pretty fortunate to get this level of instruction here,” says Mike Rutter.
“If this rink wasn't here we'd probably move away,” says John O'Bannon, whose 12-year-old son J.J. is attending the camp. “Hockey's that big a part of our life.”
“It's been a small fortune,” he says. “Thousands of dollars. We've gone to St. Louis and to the far reaches of Canada for camps.”
Which makes the $315 he's spending this week look like a bargain.
By all accounts, it is.
The first summer hockey camp ever held in Missoula wraps up Friday. Ninety kids, ages 5-17, have been on the ice.
Ice - or lack of it - is why there hasn't been a summertime hockey camp in town before.
“We've had the rink for nine years,” says Gary Jahrig, director of the Missoula Area Youth Hockey Association. “But this is the first time it's been fully enclosed, which allowed us to hold a summer camp.”
It is - literally - the coolest sports camp in town. The temperature inside the rink at the Missoula County Fairgrounds is 20 degrees.
“It's got to be saving families who would have taken their kids to Calgary or Denver or Minnesota for camps $1,000,” Jahrig says.
“At the very least,” Rutter says. “Just going to the camp in Penticton (British Columbia) is a full day's drive both ways, plus meals and motels.”
Rocky Mountain Hockey Schools of Breckenridge, Colo., which puts on weeklong camps throughout the Rocky Mountain West, is in charge of this camp.
They'll move on to other venues, from Santa Fe, N.M., to McCall, Idaho, to Cody, Wyo., to Steamboat, Colo., as the summer progresses.
“It's really helping,” said 13-year-old Aaron Golie, an eighth-grader at Washington Middle School who's been playing hockey since the age of 4. “It's giving me a different perspective of hockey, showing me different strategies on how to make myself a better hockey player.”
“They have really good coaches,” says Big Sky High School sophomore Jordan Spoonemore. “They're pushing me to do better, and really helping with my form.”
Michigan native Bryan Smith, who owns Rocky Mountain Hockey Schools, is in charge. His staff of coaches includes Dave Ruhly, head coach at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and others who have played professional minor league hockey.
Rocky Mountain Hockey Schools pays the Missoula Area Youth Hockey Association $150 an hour to rent the rink and conduct the camp.
“The participation here has blown me away,” Smith says. “I'm amazed at the numbers of hockey players here.”
Jahrig says there are 450 members of the youth hockey association, and 700 adults who play in Missoula.
“We have 38 men's teams, and there's not 38 men's teams in the rest of Montana combined,” Jahrig says.
“The skill level here has been awesome,” Smith says. “The beginning and intermediate kids have blown me off my feet. There are kids here with the potential to do some things in hockey. It's definitely over the level I expected.”
The youngest players, labeled “mites,” spend half the day at camp, and pay a $200 fee to participate.
Those 8 and over are here for full days, pay $315 for the week, and get a minimum of three hours of ice time a day, chalk talks that cover everything from hydration to sports psychology, and off-ice training as well.
“The dry land training is amazing,” says Spoonemore, the Big Sky student. “Dry land really hurts. The worst part about hockey is dry land training, but that's where it all starts. You've really got to work hard.”
Campers also take breaks from hockey to do things like visit Splash Montana, Missoula's new water park.
While the majority of hockey players at the camp are saving money because they're living at home, it's not true for everyone.
Steve Gorman of Ithaca, N.Y., has brought his son Teddy - and Teddy's friend Timmy Bollinger of St. Louis - to Montana for this camp.
“I was looking for hockey camps and found this on the Internet,” Gorman says. “We usually go to a camp in Maine but it conflicts with a camp in Ithaca at the same time. I found this and said, ‘Great, let's go to Missoula - we've never been to Montana.' ”
He does have one complaint.
“I'm disappointed we're not going to get to see more,” Gorman says. “There's no time to see Glacier Park, or even get up to Flathead Lake. I'd like to see more, but it's a big state.”
Gorman and the boys have climbed to the “M,” hiked the trails along Rattlesnake Creek and visited A Carousel for Missoula.
“They want to go back to the carousel,” Gorman says. “It seems an odd thing for a couple of 10-year-old boys, but they loved the carousel.”
And, he says, they're just as tickled with the camp.
As are many Missoula parents, who this summer need only drive a few blocks or miles for their children to get the instruction they previously had to go hundreds or thousands of miles for.
“We're pretty fortunate to get this level of instruction here,” says Mike Rutter.
“If this rink wasn't here we'd probably move away,” says John O'Bannon, whose 12-year-old son J.J. is attending the camp. “Hockey's that big a part of our life.”
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Tiny towns, big hockey heroes
Players connected to Stanley Cup have put birthplaces on the map
You can call Dryden, Ont., by many names and never be wrong. The forest capital of Canada. Heaven on Earth for hunters and fishermen. That city with the big moose for a mascot (nickname: Max).
But these days, Dryden has one handle and one handle only.
It is the hometown of Stanley Cup finalist Chris Pronger, the local kid who played his minor hockey at the Dryden Arena and is now the defensive mainstay of the Edmonton Oilers, the only Canadian-based team still competing.
That Mr. Pronger has reached the Stanley Cup final after 12 years in the National Hockey League is reason enough for the good people of Dryden to celebrate.
That the Oilers may win, thereby assuring a summer visit from hockey's most celebrated trophy, has sent this Northwestern Ontario outpost (population 8,300) over the moon.
"It's pretty exciting for the city," gushes Mayor Anne Krassilowsky, who lives two blocks from where Mr. Pronger grew up. "We're so excited we can hardly stand it."
That sense of giddiness prevails elsewhere across the land because the Oilers boast a roster of Stanley Cup hopefuls from some of the most unassuming places known to Mapquest. Centre Jarret Stoll was born in Melville, Sask. Netminder Dwayne Roloson is from Simcoe, Ont. Defenceman Marc-André Bergeron is from St-Louis-de-France, Que.
Small-town Canada has long been the hotbed for NHL talent and has provided perhaps the best lessons in geography. How else would Canadians know of Floral, Sask., without it being the home of Gordie Howe?
Flin Flon, Man., has the bragging rights to Bobby Clarke. Inverness, N.S., rolled out Al MacInnis. Parry Sound, Ont., is where Bobby Orr grew up. Murray Harbour, PEI, claims Brad Richards and Thurso, Que., has Guy Lafleur.
Throughout the nation, hockey heroes, especially those who have fought for and won the Cup, have put their hometowns on the map better than any cartographer.
Come playoff time, small-town fans cheer and cry with the sporting sons who may have moved away but still carry their city's honour. Even after Stanley Cup euphoria has subsided, town officials assemble permanent monuments to commemorate the successes and inspire others.
"The reaction to hockey people and the game is very Canadian," says veteran broadcaster and hockey historian Dick Irvin, best known as the voice of the Montreal Canadiens.
"Foster Hewitt used to say, 'Hello Canada and hockey fans,' " Mr. Irvin says, doing a remarkable imitation of the legendary broadcaster. "It wasn't just Toronto. It wasn't just Vancouver, Winnipeg. It was Canada. That's the key, I think. Everybody feels a part of it."
Case in point: The road sign at the village of Val Marie, Sask. (pop. 134), welcomes visitors to the prairie dog capital and the gateway to Grasslands National Park.
But take a quick trip around this community in the southwest corner of the province and there are signs everywhere indicating Val Marie is most proud of one thing: Bryan Trottier comes from here.
On the highway, there's an aging billboard with peeling paint dedicated to Mr. Trottier. The local rink bears his name. Inside, there's a Trottier trophy case. The visitor centre has more Trottier memorabilia. Recently, a billboard went up on the main street listing Mr. Trottier's many accomplishments, including his six Stanley Cup wins as a player and another as an assistant coach.
Vickie Reid went to elementary school and high school with Mr. Trottier and she remembers him being as dedicated to hockey as he was to his studies.
His influence on local hockey and his role as an ambassador for the village continues, she explains. Nor has he forgotten his roots.
During a reunion last July to celebrate Saskatchewan's centennial, Mr. Trottier brought the community what it craved: the Stanley Cup.
"That was just magic," recalls Ms. Reid, who has been involved with the Val Marie recreation board for years. "He stood there all day for two days with people wanting their pictures taken with him and the Cup."
The Stanley Cup, which had never before been to Val Marie, was made available during last season's NHL labour dispute. Ms. Reid figures the trophy will never be back. Then again, gifted players have shown they can come from any place, big or small, as long as there's ice.
"In small towns," Ms. Reid notes, "there's not a lot to do in winter."
Indeed. Just to the north of Val Marie is the even smaller village of Cadillac (pop. 95), which also displays its hockey pride. Beside the village's welcome sign is a hand-painted billboard that reads, "Home of Mark Lamb. '89 '90. Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Champion's."
It's of no consequence, it seems, that Mr. Lamb's birthplace is just to the east, in Ponteix (pop. 550), the place most often referred to in the hockey press as his hometown.
Weathered billboards and monuments dedicated to players of bygone eras dot the Canadian countryside, but the tradition has gained steam in recent years.
"A lot of it has to do now with the fact these small towns now get to see the Stanley Cup," Mr. Irvin explains.
"I have mixed emotions about that, being an old-timer, but at the same time, it means so much to the people."
According to the Hockey Hall of Fame, players were first allowed to spend a day with the Cup in 1995. But in light of several well-documented misadventures, there are now strict rules about where the trophy can go. Strip bars, casinos and skydiving, for example, are out of the question.
Whatever the regulations, Dryden is beside itself in anticipation of a Stanley Cup visit. To outsiders, the stopover city between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay is best known for its pulp-and-paper mill, which has undergone major downsizing, as well as for the 1989 plane crash that killed 24 people.
To locals, though, theirs is the place where Mr. Pronger and his older brother, Sean, grew up playing pond hockey and watching Hockey Night in Canada while dreaming improbable dreams.
"I don't think I ever told friends or other people growing up that I was one day going to play in the Stanley Cup final," Chris Pronger says.
"You have dreams, of course. When we played street hockey, we were in the Stanley Cup final. But the main goal back then was to just make it to the NHL."
Now the goal is to become a Stanley Cup champion, a distinction that will delight not only Mr. Pronger and his family but the thousands back home who will follow his every move and dream their own dreams, beginning tonight, with the first game in the playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
"Oh my gosh, wouldn't we be excited?" Ms. Krassilowsky says of an Oilers victory and what it would mean to Dryden. "It would absolutely be just outstanding."
You can call Dryden, Ont., by many names and never be wrong. The forest capital of Canada. Heaven on Earth for hunters and fishermen. That city with the big moose for a mascot (nickname: Max).
But these days, Dryden has one handle and one handle only.
It is the hometown of Stanley Cup finalist Chris Pronger, the local kid who played his minor hockey at the Dryden Arena and is now the defensive mainstay of the Edmonton Oilers, the only Canadian-based team still competing.
That Mr. Pronger has reached the Stanley Cup final after 12 years in the National Hockey League is reason enough for the good people of Dryden to celebrate.
That the Oilers may win, thereby assuring a summer visit from hockey's most celebrated trophy, has sent this Northwestern Ontario outpost (population 8,300) over the moon.
"It's pretty exciting for the city," gushes Mayor Anne Krassilowsky, who lives two blocks from where Mr. Pronger grew up. "We're so excited we can hardly stand it."
That sense of giddiness prevails elsewhere across the land because the Oilers boast a roster of Stanley Cup hopefuls from some of the most unassuming places known to Mapquest. Centre Jarret Stoll was born in Melville, Sask. Netminder Dwayne Roloson is from Simcoe, Ont. Defenceman Marc-André Bergeron is from St-Louis-de-France, Que.
Small-town Canada has long been the hotbed for NHL talent and has provided perhaps the best lessons in geography. How else would Canadians know of Floral, Sask., without it being the home of Gordie Howe?
Flin Flon, Man., has the bragging rights to Bobby Clarke. Inverness, N.S., rolled out Al MacInnis. Parry Sound, Ont., is where Bobby Orr grew up. Murray Harbour, PEI, claims Brad Richards and Thurso, Que., has Guy Lafleur.
Throughout the nation, hockey heroes, especially those who have fought for and won the Cup, have put their hometowns on the map better than any cartographer.
Come playoff time, small-town fans cheer and cry with the sporting sons who may have moved away but still carry their city's honour. Even after Stanley Cup euphoria has subsided, town officials assemble permanent monuments to commemorate the successes and inspire others.
"The reaction to hockey people and the game is very Canadian," says veteran broadcaster and hockey historian Dick Irvin, best known as the voice of the Montreal Canadiens.
"Foster Hewitt used to say, 'Hello Canada and hockey fans,' " Mr. Irvin says, doing a remarkable imitation of the legendary broadcaster. "It wasn't just Toronto. It wasn't just Vancouver, Winnipeg. It was Canada. That's the key, I think. Everybody feels a part of it."
Case in point: The road sign at the village of Val Marie, Sask. (pop. 134), welcomes visitors to the prairie dog capital and the gateway to Grasslands National Park.
But take a quick trip around this community in the southwest corner of the province and there are signs everywhere indicating Val Marie is most proud of one thing: Bryan Trottier comes from here.
On the highway, there's an aging billboard with peeling paint dedicated to Mr. Trottier. The local rink bears his name. Inside, there's a Trottier trophy case. The visitor centre has more Trottier memorabilia. Recently, a billboard went up on the main street listing Mr. Trottier's many accomplishments, including his six Stanley Cup wins as a player and another as an assistant coach.
Vickie Reid went to elementary school and high school with Mr. Trottier and she remembers him being as dedicated to hockey as he was to his studies.
His influence on local hockey and his role as an ambassador for the village continues, she explains. Nor has he forgotten his roots.
During a reunion last July to celebrate Saskatchewan's centennial, Mr. Trottier brought the community what it craved: the Stanley Cup.
"That was just magic," recalls Ms. Reid, who has been involved with the Val Marie recreation board for years. "He stood there all day for two days with people wanting their pictures taken with him and the Cup."
The Stanley Cup, which had never before been to Val Marie, was made available during last season's NHL labour dispute. Ms. Reid figures the trophy will never be back. Then again, gifted players have shown they can come from any place, big or small, as long as there's ice.
"In small towns," Ms. Reid notes, "there's not a lot to do in winter."
Indeed. Just to the north of Val Marie is the even smaller village of Cadillac (pop. 95), which also displays its hockey pride. Beside the village's welcome sign is a hand-painted billboard that reads, "Home of Mark Lamb. '89 '90. Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Champion's."
It's of no consequence, it seems, that Mr. Lamb's birthplace is just to the east, in Ponteix (pop. 550), the place most often referred to in the hockey press as his hometown.
Weathered billboards and monuments dedicated to players of bygone eras dot the Canadian countryside, but the tradition has gained steam in recent years.
"A lot of it has to do now with the fact these small towns now get to see the Stanley Cup," Mr. Irvin explains.
"I have mixed emotions about that, being an old-timer, but at the same time, it means so much to the people."
According to the Hockey Hall of Fame, players were first allowed to spend a day with the Cup in 1995. But in light of several well-documented misadventures, there are now strict rules about where the trophy can go. Strip bars, casinos and skydiving, for example, are out of the question.
Whatever the regulations, Dryden is beside itself in anticipation of a Stanley Cup visit. To outsiders, the stopover city between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay is best known for its pulp-and-paper mill, which has undergone major downsizing, as well as for the 1989 plane crash that killed 24 people.
To locals, though, theirs is the place where Mr. Pronger and his older brother, Sean, grew up playing pond hockey and watching Hockey Night in Canada while dreaming improbable dreams.
"I don't think I ever told friends or other people growing up that I was one day going to play in the Stanley Cup final," Chris Pronger says.
"You have dreams, of course. When we played street hockey, we were in the Stanley Cup final. But the main goal back then was to just make it to the NHL."
Now the goal is to become a Stanley Cup champion, a distinction that will delight not only Mr. Pronger and his family but the thousands back home who will follow his every move and dream their own dreams, beginning tonight, with the first game in the playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
"Oh my gosh, wouldn't we be excited?" Ms. Krassilowsky says of an Oilers victory and what it would mean to Dryden. "It would absolutely be just outstanding."
Friday, June 02, 2006
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Go to the dealership for your tune-up, mileage check, test drive of a new car; visit participating hotels for a stayover, dinner, meeting, .......and you'll be ready to enter the sweepstakes. For participating dealers and hotels, see above.
Win Additional Incentives!
Our Free Gas For A Year promotion invites you to visit your dealership. Now earn our $500 Free Groceries Coupons to save even more! Take a test drive and receive $500 worth of grocery coupons with NO charge to you. It's the perfect gift for you when you take a test drive.
Or when you visit a participating hotel or resort, check out the $1,000 Restaurant Discount book to help you save while on the road!
For details, please click here!
