The Kingdom Blades, a high school hockey team made up of players from several northeastern schools, held a clinic for younger players at the Fenton Chester Arena on Friday, Feb 16th. This free annual event benefits girls ages 3 through 13. This event is known as the Future Blades Practice and is held to help younger girls in the community learn skills like skating, stick handling, shooting, and passing. It also gives these young players experience working with a variety of different ages to get ready for joining the team in the future. Blades coach Shaun Mosher says, “Our mission remains the same each year; introduce new girls to hockey, give an opportunity to those currently playing hockey a chance to skate with the high school team, and ultimately, grow the game of girls hockey in the northeast kingdom.” This year’s event had the biggest turnout yet with 25 girls of all ages participating.
The girls started out by separating into age and skill level to play a game of sharks and minnows. After that they were separated into smaller groups to rotate through different stations that were taught by the Blades team members. The stations included stick handling, passing, skating and one-on-one drills. After rotating through all of the stations, the girls then regrouped to do a relay race for the less experienced girls, and 2v2s for those with more experience. All participants then transitioned to soccer games, still separated by skill level.
This event has been described by both participants and Blades team members as an amazing opportunity. Captain Brooke-Lynne Choiniere explains why this event is so important for the community, “…[It] allows these girls to try something new that they might not have thought to try before. Also it creates a connection between our team and these girls. They are what is going to keep the sport going and thriving.”
As a final benefit for participants at the youth clinic, all who attended earned free admission to an upcoming Kingdom Blades home game. The Blades finish their regular season on Wednesday and are currently ranked second in the VPA standings.
