Western Canada Hockey Academy prepares for big move

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2021 (869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Students at the Western Canada Hockey Academy (WCHA) are about to step into the future.

The nearly 100 players involved with the first-year hockey academy, which features Dave Lewis and Craig Anderson as lead instructors, are set to make the full-time move into J&G Homes Arena next week. 

“We’re just finalizing a few things to make sure that everything is ready to go and then we get to break the news to the kids that they’re finally getting home to their new facility,” Anderson said. “For what this place is going to be able to offer us in terms of helping kids develop on the ice and educationally, it’s going to make things so much easier.

“The technology that they’ve installed in this building is state of the art. We’re going to be able to do things that no other place that I know if is going to be able to do. 

“We’re extremely excited, and that’s not just on ice, but educationally too. We have state-of-the-art stuff in the classroom that’s going to help these kids learn. Overall, I think the building is going to be a huge success for our program.”

The WCHA has been running out of the Sportsplex since September, with the oval room on the second level used as the classroom. They were also able to utilize the track for dryland training.

“As a secondary position until this was built, it was actually pretty good,” Anderson said. “Everything we needed was right there so we didn’t need to do any transporting of students.”

The WCHA has in-house learning for youngsters from Grades 5 to 8 in a dedicated classroom, with Grades 9 to 12 kids skating with them in the morning and then heading to their high schools. They have 27 full-time students in the younger age group, and around 70 older players.

Construction began on the 42,985-square-foot facility in March, and the pair have been regular visitors to monitor the progress.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Lewis said. “I don’t have a construction or mechanical background or experience so to see how much pre-planning has to go in and how all the steps have to follow in sequence is crazy. To see it come to fruition like this now, it’s obviously very exciting. At times I have to pinch myself.”

One of the more innovative aspects of the facility is its focus on technology. For instance, a player can be filmed during a drill on the ice, and the video can immediately be transferred to the jumbotron via bluetooth technology for them to watch.

Lewis said that beyond the obvious fact that another ice surface allows for more ice time and opportunity in the city, he added the technology infused into the building takes it a big step further. With more than 30 years of coaching experience, he’s noticed in the last decade how much better all players learn from visual cues.

“When they actually see themselves training and what they’re doing, as opposed to what they think they’re doing, it’s remarkably different,” Lewis said. “For them to see what they’re doing, that’s when we’ve seen the biggest gains, regardless of whether it’s a novice player or an NHL player.”

He doesn’t know of a similarly equipped building in Western Canada.

“With what we’re going to be able to do with our iPads and with the visual learners, it’s going to be remarkable,” Anderson added. “Coming from two former teachers, we definitely know how kids learn best, and it’s through visual. It’s for sure for me going to be one of the most important things about our program.”

Another focus of the facility is developing goalies. While Brandon and Westman has done an excellent job of developing top-end players, fewer netminders have enjoyed the same success, a problem Jacobson specifically addressed with Lewis and Anderson.

With a pair of shooting bays targeted at the position, along with goaltending clinics by former WHL netminder Tyson Verhelst, the duo hopes to make inroads.

“I think the goalie bays will be extremely busy and I think it’s something that’s been needed in Brandon for a long, long time,” Anderson said. 

Another innovation will provide more exact data to the two coaches.

Lewis said the facility just purchased an expensive set of laser timing gates, which will allow precise tracking of the gains players are making, and also point out when players may be overtraining.

He said it’s just another thing that will make the new building special.

“It will give us scientific proof of whether they’re improving and in what areas they need to improve in,” Lewis said. “I’m really excited about that.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

»Twitter: @PerryBergson