Canucks and Community Come Together for Junior Canucks Hockey Camp, presented by KPMG

Over the last two weeks, the Vancouver Canucks hosted their annual Junior Canucks Hockey Camp, presented by KPMG. The camps were held at Rogers Arena and Rogers Forum for kids ages seven to 11 to strengthen their hockey skills through hands-on instruction, competition, and experiences to foster skill development.  

The camp was led by Junior Canucks Coach Greg Schell with a commitment to ensuring that every player leaves with improved skills, new friendships, and great memories.  

“It's a day in the life of being a Vancouver Canucks athlete,” Schell said. “All we're trying to do is help challenge, develop, teach, and improve these kids in every way possible.” 

In addition to Schell, it was a team effort in sharing the love of the game, with other coaches including Canucks coaching staff, Canucks alumni, Vancouver Goldeneyes players, and local university coaches. The camp also had guest speakers, and guest appearances, including Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko, Abbotsford Canucks captain Chase Wouters, and fan-favourite FIN.

The campers participated in skills, drills, and five-on-five gameplay focused on strengthening their fundamentals in skating, stickhandling, passing, shooting, and defence.

The off-ice sessions included strength and agility, nutrition and healthy habits, team building exercises and classroom learning on values that make a great teammate. Those values are summed up in the acronym of D.R.E.A.M.: Discipline, Respect, Excellence, Attitude, and Mindset. 

"It's an opportunity for you to experience something incredibly amazing and so we try and give values to the kids as a part of this camp. One thing is yes, of course, the athletic experience, but then the life skills that are going to be experienced are unlike anything else as well. We're trying to create well-rounded athletes, so the dream theme is important for us in everything that we do,” Schell said. 

Alongside the hockey skills, the camp aims to support children’s love of all sports, and the campers were introduced to lacrosse by Vancouver Warriors forwards Adam Charalambides and Curtis Dickson, as well as Team BC Junior Girls coach Debbie Phillips. Kids were taught the mechanics and fundamentals of lacrosse and learned how the hand-eye coordination in lacrosse helps with hockey skills, reinforcing the importance of sportsmanship and the fun of trying new things. 

The Junior Canucks Hockey Camp gave young athletes a chance to learn from experienced coaches and players, while discovering more about what it means to be a great teammate. 

For more information about the Junior Canucks Camps and additional Junior Canucks programming visit https://junior.canucks.com/.