Canadian Hockey Academies

There are tens of thousands of children in minor-hockey programs across Canada, but only a select few every year decide to step up their development and attend one of the growing number of hockey academies across the country.

There, they are completely immersed in the game, with daily practices integrated into their school day along with nutrition, fitness and training sessions to keep the aspiring athletes in tip-top shape.

The academies employ experienced coaches, academic tutors and often have access to first-rate facilities. The student-athletes are either billeted with host families in the community or housed in dormitories.

“Having the three key points in a player’s life ... integrated together with academics, athletics and character development, those are the principles we build our program on,” says Andy Oakes, president of Okanagan Hockey Academy in Penticton, B.C.

At Okanagan, athletes are in the classroom from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m., then hit the ice, the weight room or do other training activities between 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.

“We’re using the very productive mental hours of morning time when the players are refreshed and rested for academics, then we’re using good physical development time, being in the afternoon for their training time,” he says.

The big knock against hockey in general and hockey camps and academies in particular is the cost. Parents already have to scrape together money for registration fees, equipment and for elite players, hockey camps are not just a luxury, they are a requirement.

Academies, with annual tuition in the tens of thousands of dollars, add an entirely new level of cost.

“It’s an expensive program ... that unfortunately does not allow everyone to participate in it,” concedes Oakes, noting comparisons to soccer and football academies. “But in those fees is a very much increased service level for the athlete as an entire person.”

Mathieu Mault, an official with the Canadian International Hockey Academy in Rockland, just east of Ottawa, says his group plans to create an endowment fund to provide financial assistance to families of players in need.

Although hockey academies have been popular in Western Canada — Okanagan has about 100 students every year between Grades 9 and 12 and Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Sask., has a strong hockey program along with other athletics — there are fewer opportunities for young players in Eastern Canada to go to an academy close to home.

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