Pierre Alexandre Poulin (left) of Hockey Canada and Michael Butler of BC Hockey, spent last Friday in Osoyoos meeting with Dean Rowland, the founder of the hockey academy at Osoyoos Elementary School, and talking with other instructors and players enrolled in the program. Both were very impressed with the program. (Keith Lacey photo)
Senior management with Hockey Canada and BC Hockey had heard really good things about the hockey academy run out of Osoyoos Elementary School for the past eight years and decided to pay a visit last week to see what all the fuss was about.
They left duly impressed and had nothing but positive things to say about the program established by founder Dean Rowland eight years ago.
Pierre Alexandre Poulin, the manager of school programs for Hockey Canada, and Michael Butler, the co-ordinator of community programs and skills development with BC Hockey, spent all day Friday meeting with Rowland, school principal Dave Foster and other teachers involved in the hockey academy.
They then observed and took notes as Rowland, Foster and several other instructors put 39 players through the paces at an afternoon practice session.
Poulin is the older brother of Canadian Olympic hockey hero Marie Phillippe Poulin, who scored the eventual game-winning goals for Team Canada in the gold medal games at the last two Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Sochi, Russia, respectively.
Poulin, who played major junior hockey in Quebec and then played university hockey in Moncton, said the program in Osoyoos is one of only 20 such hockey academies in Canada at the elementary school level.
“There are 110 hockey academies across the country and this is one of only 20 at the elementary school level and this one in Osoyoos has been around longer than most,” said Poulin. “I met Dean at a seminar in Calgary last year and we started talking and he got me very interested in what was going on in Osoyoos.
“I talked to Michael with BC Hockey and we decided a few weeks ago that we would make the trip to Osoyoos to see what they’re doing so well to make this program the huge success it has become.”
The key to success with all hockey academies is focusing on skills development and Rowland and his team of instructors are doing a terrific job, said Poulin.
“This isn’t about working on systems or things like power-play or penalty-killing,” he said. “The focus is on improving basic skills like skating and puckhandling and that should always be the focus of any hockey academy.
“We talked to a lot of the players and they are obviously having a good time and having fun, while also improving their basic skills, which is the key to success at any level of hockey.”
Poulin said he and Butler will be sharing notes and discussing what they learned in Osoyoos with other top officials with Hockey Canada.
“We would like to introduce more hockey academy programs for the younger kids in elementary schools and a lot of what we’ve seen here is going to be used as important information moving forward,” he said.
Butler, who has worked for BC Hockey for the past five years, was equally impressed.
“I’m very impressed,” he said. “You can just tell the kids are having a lot of fun and that’s obviously the key to success.
“When you focus on skills development at this age, the kids can’t help but have fun as they improve literally every single time they get on the ice.”
Butler has attended the Okanagan Hockey School in Penticton, where Rowland has been an instructor for many years, and he’s not surprised he has done such a wonderful job in setting up one of the province’s best hockey academies for young players.
BC Hockey would like to establish more hockey academies at the elementary school level and much of what he learned last week in Osoyoos will be passed on among senior management with BC Hockey, he said.
“We will see what we can take from here and apply it to other programs we’re looking at starting up across the province,” he said. “If you can put together an excellent program like this in a small community like Osoyoos, it can obviously be done in other communities.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
Close to 40 players involved in the hockey academy at Osoyoos Elementary School were on the ice last Friday when top brass from Hockey Canada and BC Hockey visited town to find out how the program is run and why it has become such a huge success. (Keith Lacey photo)
