Bisons give back
Mario Prusina
Times Editor
The UFA Bisons held their annual hockey clinic in Strathmore on Jan. 6. Last year the clinic was held in Rockyford and was a great success. This year continued that success with 85 kids signed up.
“It’s just a chance to give back to the community and in (the) surrounding area, we try to do it within our entire draw zone. A lot of these kids come out and support us and it’s the future of our program,” said head coach Jeremy Friesen.
“We hope that five, six, seven years down the road a lot of these kids are trying out for us and hopefully playing for us.”
The clinic is an opportunity for the kids to get to know the Bisons a little better, while also giving the Bisons players a chance to be able to give back to the community, said Friesen.
The kids, both boys and girls, had a chance to learn some of the basic drills, which are the same drills the Bisons players do on a weekly basis.
“That’s kind of the message that we send to the guys, it starts at a young age and you’ve got to be willing to put in the time and the effort, the focus to the details, and really just execute what you’re trying to practice so that you can get better at it,” said Friesen.
“When I was little I went to camps with older guys helping out, now it’s nice to give back and just be on the other side of it,” said first year Bison Tyler Wong.
“Just seeing all these older guys that are at a really high level, you can learn from everything they do and just watch what they’re doing and learn from them.”
Playing for the Bisons is just one more step serious hockey players have to take to reach their goal. The next step is to the Western Hockey League (WHL) or the Junior A Hockey League to further develop their skills.
“We have a lot of guys that are in the Western Hockey League, we have a couple of guys that have been drafted in the NHL. Ty Rattie is one. There’s a couple more that are supposed to be drafted this year that were playing here last year so that’s very exciting,” said Friesen.
“It’s about building up an identity and a kind of program that everyone can be proud of and wants to be an alumni member of and keep giving back. That all starts with doing program like this.”