High school students will be able to trade their notebooks and pens for sticks and skates as Langley Secondary is re-opening their hockey academy.
The academy had closed three years ago but is poised to start up again in the fall.
It will be a Hockey Canada Skills Academy, focused on helping students improve their on-ice skills. The school will not have a team — both the Delta and Yale (Abbotsford) hockey academies play in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League — and the players will instead suit up for their minor hockey association team.
“We decided to restart the academy because there has been an increased demand to do so,” said Jamie Fiset, the program’s teacher/co-ordinator.
Fiset, LSS vice-principal Sean Wicker and Paul Whintors will serve as the coaches.
All three have extensive hockey backgrounds.
Fiset is the head coach and general manager of the junior Ridge Meadows Flames, as well as being involved with B.C. Hockey for more than 10 years. He was named an assistant coach for Team B.C.’s U16 squad at the 2015 Western Branch Challenge Cup.
Wicker is a district evaluator for B.C. Hockey’s High Performance program as well as a scout for the junior A Chilliwack Chiefs.
And Whintors is currently an assistant coach with the junior B Langley Knights. He also owns the Complex Hockey Training.
Fiset also said they have lined up a diverse group of guest coaches and speakers from junior A, junior B, the Western Hockey League, the NHL, as well as from the B.C. High Performance program.
The program will accommodate 22 to 24 students total in Grades 9 to 12 and they would have one block of hockey inside their timetable.
The students receive a PE credit for completing the course.
The program will focus on technical, physical and cognitive skills.
That hockey block would take place either at the Langley Twin Rinks, in the gym or the classroom.
“The goal of the program is to give the student-athletes a high performance experience,” Fiset said.
“Although there is always a variation in terms of talent, the focus on high performance remains the same; we focus on developing a complete player in terms of building technical skills, improving physical performance and understanding strategic concepts.”
The LSS hockey academy is one of two proposed for the district (see side story) as R.E. Mountain Secondary and Yorkson Creek Middle School will also be running a skills academy out of the Langley Events Centre.
This will be the second sports academy offered by LSS as they are just wrapping up a successful first year