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NHL: CANUCKS: Ball hockey nationals

/noticias.info/ By Kevin Mitchell
Sports Editor

NHL stars like Dominik Hasek and Pavol Demitra have represented their countries in the World Ball Hockey Championships.

Alex Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks has boosted the Montreal Red Light to five straight Canadian senior men’s championships.

Perhaps an obscure sport when it comes to media attention, ball hockey attracts elite athletes who use it for summer cross-training or simply play for the love of the game.

Vernon’s Jim Armstrong has long had a passion for the game and will coach his son Braden and Spencer Beckner with Team B.C. Under 17s in the nationals, Aug. 3-6, in Kitchener, Ont.

Jim will also guide B.C.’s U19 entry and then head to Montreal, where he will join the Kamloops Blackjacks for the senior men’s nationals.

“The Under 17s have a legitimate chance (at winning a medal),” said Jim, a 40-year-old partsman at Royal Volkswagen. “We have a roster of 18 and lots of talented players.”

Armstrong said ball hockey brings elements from basketball, soccer and ice hockey.

“From basketball, ball hockey teaches you picks and how to play more of a man-to-man system. From soccer, it teaches you marking your man and from ice hockey, you get the general hockey sense. It’s a great sport and very fast. Thirty seconds is a long shift because it’s a fullout sprint.”

Trials for the provincial teams were held at the Great Pacific Forum in Delta over two weekends. There have also been six practices so the Vernon trio have been putting on major road miles.

A Boston Bruins fan who will coach the Midget B Reps in ice hockey this fall, Jim began playing ball hockey 22 years ago in Kamloops. He played against the likes of Mark Recchi and Joe Sakic and studied the game so well that Canadian officials asked him to attend a winter seminar so he could qualify as an elite coach.

A world championship is held every two years with the next tourney going in 2007 in Germany.

Braden, a 17-year-old butterfly goalie, is in his third year of ball hockey and noticed the difference from ice hockey right away.

“Angles and how you position yourself,” he said. “You don’t have blades so you have to keep your legs moving more from side to side. The ball moves a little faster and it curves on you.”

Braden, a Grade 12 VSS student who hopes to get into sports therapy, played for the Edge Photography Cowboys in the Midget Super League last year. He believes the U17s will make an impact in Kitchener.

“We have lots of good offensive players and lots of speed,” said Braden, the No. 1 net detective who will serve as a back-up for the Blackjacks at the senior national tournament.

Beckner, a 17-year-old right winger, was a leading scorer with the Safeway Midget AAA Vipers last season. This is his first ball hockey experience.

“Ball hockey takes more endurance,” said Beckner, who is training with collegiate soccer sensation Jobie Waughman and Junior A Vipers Richard Jodoin and Kevyn Kirbyson. “You can’t glide like you can on your skates. You have to keep your feet moving. The physical part is different and the ball gets moving pretty fast.”

Beckner, who wasn’t sure how he fared at provincial trials because he is new to the sport, hopes to parlay his summer ball hockey experience into strong B.C. Hockey League training camps in late August. notas_de_prensa_archivo