Father-son NHLers run hockey camp in western Nunavut

Jamie Leach, left, and his father Reggie, both former NHL hockey players, held a hockey skills development camp in Cambridge Bay Feb. 24 to Feb. 27. (PHOTO BY KELCEY WRIGHT)

More than 100 children, aged six to 20, took part in a four-day hockey camp in Cambridge Bay over the winter break last week. (PHOTO BY KELCEY WRIGHT)

Special to Nunatsiaq News

CAMBRIDGE BAY — Kids from across Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region scored big last week if they happened to be in Cambridge Bay during their week off from school.

Former National Hockey League players and Stanley Cup winners Jamie and Reggie Leach hosted a hockey camp in the western Nunavut town from Feb. 24 to Feb. 27.

“We travel all over the country doing lots of skill development camps and Cambridge Bay Minor Hockey was nice enough to invite us up for this four-day program,” said Jamie Leach.

“This is our first time up in Cambridge Bay and what’s good about this program is its not just for Cambridge Bay Minor Hockey because they’ve brought kids from different communities in too.”

With 90 participants, Cambridge Bay had the most children attending the camp — but there were more than 15 kids from Kugaaruk, Kugluktuk and Gjoa Haven who left home for a week to develop their hockey skills.

And developing skill at a young age is the ultimate goal for the Leach Shoot to Score hockey camps.

“[We’re] hoping to make this an annual thing, maybe not always in Cambridge Bay but just an opportunity for us to come up here and get together and do skill development for these communities up here,” he said. “We like to come back and see like ‘Wow! Look how much better you got.’”

This marks the 10th year that the Leach duo has been running hockey development camps across Canada, visiting more than 50 different communities during that time.

“We really enjoy what we do, it’s nice to come to these communities and the kids seem to really enjoy it,” said Jamie Leach, who has been part of two Stanley Cup victories as a member of the Pittsburg Penguins in 1991 and 1992.

And it’s that experience that helped him bring innovative training to kids in the Kitikmeot region.

“One of the comments we heard from the kids [this year] is that they enjoyed doing the drills. When they come out here and see something different, they really enjoy it. And that’s good,” he said. “If the kids are having fun, that’s all part of the program.”

Whatever he did, it worked. The kids, aged six to 20, loved every second on the ice.

“I had lots of fun,” said nine-year-old, Aggiu Dimitruk. “I learned how to control the puck better.”

And her younger brother, Jusipi, agreed, “We played different games and learned lots of different stuff and at the end when we had to run and get the pucks and put them on top of the net, it was really fun.”

On top of the development camps which ran from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. each day, the Leaches hosted a number of free skates for the community and also did a presentation on Feb. 25 in the community hall.

“I [talked] about choices in life, attitudes and bullies,” said Reggie Leach, a 14-year NHL veteran, who won the Stanley Cup in 1975 as a Philadelphia Flyer.

“Our job as adults is to point kids in the right direction. Let them know it’s alright to make a mistake, but not to make that same mistake twice.”

About 50 people gathered into Cambridge Bay’s community hall to listen to Reggie Leach’s speech during which he talked about his experiences as an Aboriginal person and offered advice about how to become not just a great hockey player but a great human being.

This isn’t the first time the father-son team have travelled north. They’ve visited Nunavut several times and also hold a camp in Yellowknife every July.

That’s where the relationship began between the Leaches and Fred Muise, the president of Cambridge Bay Minor Hockey Association.

Two years ago, a few kids from Cambridge Bay traveled to Yellowknife for the Leach hockey school. Muise, who kept in touch with the two men, eventually invited them up to Cambridge Bay.

“I love it. It keeps me young. I love being around the kids,” said Reggie Leach. “The biggest thing I get out of working with these kids is a smile on their face.”

For more information on Shoot to Score Hockey or the Leaches visit their website here.