Over the Easter weekend, 60 players participated in a spring ID camp for the Mustangs, Williams Lake’s newly-acquired Kootenay International Junior Hockey League team.
“It went unbelievable,” said Tyrel Lucas who will be the team’s manager and head coach.
Lucas, his wife Robin Lucas, Gerald Overton, Brad Paddison, Parnell Pinette and Aaron and Nathan Zurak purchased the KIJHL Summerland Steam to relocate and operate it out of Williams Lake.
“It went well considering we put the camp together in just over a week,” Tyrel Lucas said of the spring camp, noting there were 10 people evaluating the players. “It was an awesome response.”
Half of the players were from Williams Lake and the others from Alberta, the Okanagan, Lower Mainland, Prince George, Vanderhoof, and Fort St. John.
“It gave us a good look at the Summerland players that were on the team that is going to be relocating here and then we will be doing a main camp Aug. 16 to 18,” Tyrel said. “From this camp we just had, we will be inviting a lot of them to the main camp. It will be invite only.”
The plan is to roster 22 to 23 players for the season. Out of town players will be billeted.
To be eligible, players must be born between 2004 to 2009.
Parnell Pinette, a long-time coach in Williams Lake whose children play hockey, evaluated and coached during the spring camp.
“There were some local kids we hadn’t seen play in awhile in that atmosphere and I was surprised at some of the level of talent that we had,” he said. “I hope we can have them playing in Williams Lake instead of having to bring their talents to out of town. That was exciting for me.”
The players were divided into four teams. Each team had a practice and played three games between Thursday, March 28 and Saturday, March 30.
Pinette enjoyed being on the bench Saturday, to get a feeling of what the players were like culture-wise, he said.
“I feel I can learn lots from their body language and how they treat their teammates, and if those are kids you want to have on your team.”
Tyrel will manage the team and be head coach and said the assistant coaches have yet to be named.
“Since our announcement, the community support has been definitely overwhelming,” he said. “That is the reason why we felt so passionately that we wanted to bring junior hockey back here. For our community and the kids that are growing up in our community and the players to give them a spot to play locally.”
Lucas played in the KIJHL when he was 16 for the North Okanagan Kings.
READ MORE: Junior A hockey coming back to Williams Lake
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