The program is a great way to not only grow the game, but grow hockey at your arena and in your community.

c/o Alaska Highway News

Hockey is constantly changing - from the speed of the game, to the way it is taught or played. And in the age of the Internet, the resources are more vast than ever.

With all those changes, being able to filter and collect that information into an appropriate way to serve an individual or a team can be difficult.

As part of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge at the North Peace Arena, Hockey Canada brought together four (4) individuals who have intense dedication and knowledge about the game to share what they know and see in their interactions with it.

BC Hockey President Randy Henderson, BC Hockey's Referee in Chief Sean Raphael, Men's National Team Senior Manager for Hockey Canada Shawn Bullock and Hockey Canada Western Scout Wade Klippenstien fielded questions from about 30 or so community members regarding all things hockey.

Henderson addressed the notion early on the kids who "play in the north won't get seen."

"There are scouts here, there are scouts in Dawson, there are scouts in Grande Prairie," he said. "Players are being watched quite well."

Klippenstien noted that Carey Price, the NHL's Vezina Trophy holder, was from the small town of Anahim Lake and played his minor hockey in Williams Lake.

There have been plenty of questions throughout the week about why Canada has three (3) teams entered in the tournament, compared to each other nation with just one (1). The simple answer from Bullock was depth and development.

"We feel at this level that we have a large base of athletes, that not only need to develop but that can play at this level. We pride ourselves on having the most high performance hockey players in the world," he said.

"We feel it's very important to develop 66 players here rather than 22. Because you never know, we are looking at a World Junior roster right now where we have the McCann's and the Virtanen's playing in the NHL already. If we only had 22 guys here continuing at U18 and U20, we might lose half our World Junior team because of the NHL."

Bullock also touched on coaching, and the need to develop young hockey players as good skaters and athletes first and foremost.

"If you can really bear down and teach the fundamentals of the game from age 8 to 14, you can really produce some great hockey players," he said while also noting that teams should strive for a three (3) to one (1) practice to game model, at the very least a one (1) to one (1) ratio.

"I go back to edge work, skating technique, not just straight away but change of pace, being evasive, changing speeds, being able to go left and right. Right now our defensemen are struggling to just keep up with the pace...the other one we are struggling with at this level is puck protection. We are really weak on puck protection here. When you get it is so valuable to keep it you have to protect it."

Klippenstien added that with perhaps all the resources available, maybe coaches are getting too involved and need to back off and let the kids have some free play. Much like the activity at a skate park where kids aren't constantly monitored or coached, yet are developing creativity and skills every day.

The men in stripes also got a lot of questions from the crowd, with inquiries about the best way to make it to the next level, to how to best approach and deal with a coach.

"For me, I love an official who communicates, someone with a sense of humour. You can deescalate a situation so quickly if you have a sense of humour, if you have that human component," Klippenstien said as a former WHL coach.

Raphael pointed out that while there are many paths to making it to the NHL, simply striving to be the best referee in a given game, in an organization and in a league can go a long way to getting noticed.

He added that since referees have little time to practice their craft, going over a rule each game with other officials in a given season could potentially cover more than 100 rules. He also cited the need for refs to communicate before the game as a way for better success on the ice.

"Whatever game you are on the ice for is the most important one, whether it's a Novice, a Pee Wee game or the gold medal of the U17's. You are only as good as your last game, so always represent yourself from that standpoint," he said.

When the Cariboo Cougars hit the ice one Saturday night in October, they weren't wearing their usual black, red, and white jerseys. Instead, they were donning special pink and white jerseys to promote awareness for breast cancer.

October was Breast Cancer Awareness month, and several sports leagues across North America took part. The Western Hockey League's (WHL) Prince George Cougars had a Breast Cancer Awareness night and the MML Cougars were excited to host their own when they played the South Island Royals on Saturday, October 24, 2015.

The special-edition jerseys were donated by a Cariboo sponsor, the Taba Group. The Taba Group's Shawn and Art Julien were inspired to do something to promote the cause on a local level. They contacted Cougars Head Coach/General Manager, Trevor Sprague, and the two (2) organizations worked to put together a special night for the cause.

"Breast cancer awareness has become a big thing in Northern BC, and with the WHL Cougars having their event last weekend we were excited to spread the word as well," commented Sprague. "We want to make people throughout the North aware of breast cancer, and ultimately, we want to beat it."

In addition to the jerseys (which were auctioned off after the game, with the proceeds going towards breast cancer research), there was also a "Chuck A Puck" event and donation boxes at the door. All in all, the Cougars raised $2,300, with all proceeds benefiting the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and CIBC's Run for the Cure initiative.