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FRIDAY, January 24, 2020
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ANSWERS TO CROSSWORD FOUND ON A37
City of Kamloops DISCOVER BATS!
15
$
ACTIVITY PROGRAMS
Bats are misunderstood and underappreciated. They’re also in trouble from white nose syndrome. Join Winter Activity Guide out. on a community bat coordinator VanessaisRobinson journey toREGISTRATION learn more about these fascinating IS NOW OPEN.creatures. Walk upare Tranquille to view numbers them leaving Programs cancelledcreek if the minimum are nottheir met. roosts. Use a bat detector to ‘hear’ them. There’s so much to discover about bats. 18th of September. 7 pm to 9 pm. in Pine Park parking lot, Tranquille. TotsMeet Floor Hockey
Introduce your child to floor hockey and other movement skills! In this fun, play-based program, children will increase their physical literacy skills while making new friends. West Highlands Community Centre Ages: 2-3
Thu 5:15–5:45 pm
Jan 23–Feb 27 6/$33
Intro to Floor Curling
Floor curling is a low-impact sport and a great way to stay active. Team are mixed and assigned randomly. No equipment required. Coffee and goodies served for 25¢. Heritage House Fri Feb 07 8:15–9:00 am 1/$15 Fri Mar 06 8:15–9:00 am 1/$15
FAST Tennis
Fun Adult Starter Tennis (FAST). In this program you will learn tennis fundamentals, including basic tactics and techniques, rules, and scoring. In partnership with the Kamloops Tennis Centre. Kamloops Tennis Centre Sat Feb 22–Mar 14 10:30–12:00 pm 4/$75
Kamloops.ca
SPORTS
Part 2: Delving into minor hockey issues
E
ight 2005-born, second-year bantam hockey players from Kamloops left the city this season to pursue their dreams elsewhere: seven for the Abbotsford-based Yale Hockey Academy Lions and one for the Kelowna-based Okanagan Rockets. Several parents spoke to KTW in November on the condition of anonymity to explain their decisions to let their kids leave the B.C. Hockey-run program to toil in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. Sharing their views this week are BC Hockey CEO Barry Petrachenko, Kamloops Minor Hockey Association chairman of the board Cam Rubel, former top-tier bantam Blazers’ head coach Kyle Allan and Stu MacGregor, western regional scout for the Victoria Royals, former Kamloops Blazers’ general manager and former head scout for the Edmonton Oilers. Part 1 of this story appeared in KTW on Wednesday. This is Part 2:
COMPETITION One parent projected his son would not be exposed to quality opposition on a regular basis if he played this season in the major bantam league. He said the Blazers may not have earned invites to all of the top-end tournaments, where scouts tend to gather, and the CSSHL schedule would likely be a greater catalyst for improvement. MacGregor and Allan have qualms with that viewpoint. “If you look at the academy programs, some of them are the top programs and others are just bottom feeders,” MacGregor said. “The problem is that a player who leaves a club program and goes to an academy and is a first-line player in a club program, developing leadership skills and getting more opportunity to play in key times, ends up being a third-line player at an academy and doesn’t get that opportunity.” Added Allan: “They released the tournament list. I think we would have got in, based on who they accepted. I can’t say that for sure, but based on the talent and high-profile players we would have had, we would have got in.” Petrachenko said scouts do a great job scouring the BC Hockey ranks for talent. “It has definitely been a determining factor in choices families have made and it’s been an error we have all made as parents of players over the years because I’ve been around the game long enough
MARTY HASTINGS
The Tattle of
HASTINGS
to know there is nobody who I can ever say didn’t get seen,” Petrachenko said. “Yes, marquee tournaments are important and we need to make that part of our programming, but we don’t always have to make that the only reason for making a hockey decision. There are a whole bunch of scouts out there whose job it is to see people. If they don’t see someone and someone else does, then they’re not doing their job.” MacGregor noted he recently made a trip to watch a bantam AA player, thanks in part to BC Hockey’s improving website and stats tracking. “You could say it’s a weaker league, but Darcy Tucker came from a weaker league. Shane Doan came from a weaker league,” he said. “If your players are good, if your team is good, scouts go and find them.” Watching eight of Kamloops’ finest leave town was tough to swallow for Rubel and the KMHA. “Losing those players, not only as a hockey community but, more importantly, from a parent standpoint, a school standpoint and as friends, we’re forcing kids away at a younger age than we should be,” Rubel said. “Kamloops minor hockey has heard a message, loud and clear, from existing and past parents and players. We’re definitely carrying that message ahead in order to make the right decision for future years. This is live. “We need to know the direction that BC Hockey is ultimately going to choose with its zone program.” THE COST Each Parent who spoke to KTW agreed it was about $10,000 for their kids to play for the 2018-2019 bantam AA Thompson Blazers, that price an all-in estimate that includes tournament fees and extracurricular training that existed outside of regular team programming.
BC Hockey sent an email to KTW outlining team fees for that season: “$2,900 league, $3,000 team fees and then $984 back each as refund from one fundraiser. Total cost $5,000. Team played roughly 50 games.” Allan said $10,000 was a better estimate of actual total cost for the season. Petrachenko was crystal clear in his assessment. “The AAA program, the cost of it, is one of the most misquoted costs, especially because the cost of our program has become a bit of a negotiation tool for other programs, whether that’s junior or accredited school programs,” he said. “The biggest challenge is when people think the cost is the same because people who think the cost is close or the same between an accredited school and a AAA program, it sways the decision. Anybody who hears that is being misled. It doesn’t make mathematical sense.” Petrachenko trumpeted a break-even budget that aims to keep costs down. “We are not operating these AAA teams to generate a profit for future years,” he said. “The difference with choosing the school route is you are dealing with full-time coaches and minimum operating standards that require access to schooling and other facets. It’s not their fault, but it’s going to be more expensive to provide those services. “We work with our accredited-school members to try to help them keep costs down, but at the same time the standards we require currently and in the future, we know it’s not going make the cost any less. You pay for what you get.” Yale charges $14,500 per season, but estimates varied on how much Kamloops parents end up paying when including billet-family agreements and other travel-related and gear expenditures. Ballpark numbers from parents ranged from $18,000 to $23,000. MacGregor noted some academies charge much more than Yale. “The dollars spent is crazy — absolutely crazy,” he said. THE FUTURE MacGregor is concerned about the absence of a major bantam team. “It’s going to hurt the Kamloops major midget program down the road,” MacGregor said. “It’s going to affect the kids having to leave. “The new league is new and there are some things that need to be done to continue to improve it. The academies are
ahead at this point, but there is potential for it to be a very good league and a very good development opportunity for kids.” MacGregor said there is opportunity in Kamloops to involve School District 73 in elite hockey programming, allowing players to practise during the day and play for their club teams. “Ideally, there would be a major bantam team here,” he said. “The best players who are Kamloops-developed players are playing on it. BC Hockey, in conjunction with Kamloops minor hockey, is able to provide a product, an opportunity for young players to develop and be the very best they can be. “I think you’d rather raise your child yourself than have a billet at that age, but that’s just my personal opinion.” Petrachenko said the outlook is promising. “We could have had a great season this year with that group of players from Kamloops,” he said. “They could have stayed at home. That’s what made me the saddest, to hear the stories of the family where the child has left home because they felt they had to. I understand the feeling. I’m not criticizing it at all. That’s what families face.” The BC Hockey CEO said it’s his opinion 13- and 14-year-old players should be staying close to home. “We take that job seriously of trying to provide that option,” he said. “Ideally, we would provide a school-based option for everybody in the province that was close to home and a zone or a minorhockey option. “We think having that team in the Thompson will also clarify for the players who want to go and get a schooling experience around their hockey, we have the accredited-school programs. For the players who want to stay at home and play high-calibre hockey and not have it connected to schooling, we want to provide that, too.” “We’ll have a great program there next year.” Rubel said the KMHA’s future in the zone program remains up in the air. Jan Antons was last week named Thompson Zone GM, a move that has the full backing of KMHA, but the board chair said members have directed the association to seek more changes. “The way the zone program was conceptually brought to us by representatives from BC hockey compared to where it is now, I think is a pretty substantial delta,” Rubel said. “I certainly don’t think it’s been as successful as it could have been.”