Pinawa Project

 

Peter Symchuk wears plenty of hats in this province.  He’s a member of the board of directors of the Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council, he’s the head coach of the national champion Manitoba Aboriginal Women’s Hockey team, and he’s been instrumental in attempts to bring a Canadian national Aboriginal team to Manitoba.

But the Metis hockey coach from Pinawa is also extremely interested in growing both girls’ and women’s hockey in our province and to that end, he’s come up with an idea that could help revolutionize the women’s game in Manitoba.  Symchuk has organized a group of the most dedicated hockey people in the province and come up with an idea to turn Pinawa High School into a girls hockey academy.

“This was an idea that started with Lloyd Axworthy at the University of Winnipeg,” said Symchuk, from his office at AECL in Pinawa.  “They had planned to start the Iceberg Project.  It was a great idea.  They were going to build an arena in downtown Winnipeg and they were looking for projects to be part of the building.  We had this idea to start a hockey academy, but that project doesn’t seem to be moving forward very quickly, so we approached the high school in Pinawa.”  Last month, Symchuk, along with Regional School Superintendent Bob Derousie; high school principal Scott Smith; Ron Drabyk, the area’s minor hockey president and Arena Board Chairman; Mel Whitesell, the executive director of the MASRC; Sport Manitoba’s Ken Faulder; Dean Rebeck, the head hockey coach at Winnipeg’s Balmoral Hall School; and Kirk Kuppers, the president of the Manitoba Women's Junior Hockey League, got together and initiated the Pinawa Project.  The group will be part of a Town Hall Meeting coming up in Pinawa on Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m.

“Kirk Kuppers is hard at work,” said Symchuk.  “He is our first real staffer and
he is currently working with Hockey Canada's Paul Carson and the Pinawa secondary school.  “I've talked to two potential coaches: Joe West who coached in the German Elite league and Dean Rebeck of BH.  I have 30 Potential Billet families thanks to my wife Barb who has become our billet coordinator.  For now, we are going to use MASRC as our main office and branch it from the MASRC program.  That gives us a big boost for the future.”

With, essentially, a girls hockey academy already at Balmoral and a high school hockey academy at St. James Collegiate, a third academy in rural Manitoba would be a good start toward a full blown provincial league.  And the concept is simple: To develop a Hockey Academy at Pinawa Secondary School with an emphasis on education first.

The core theme, however, is still hockey and as part of the participating student's educational plans, hockey will be an integral part of the curriculum. 

However, according to Symchuk, by following both the Whiteshell School Division and the Manitoba Department of Education requirements plus the Hockey Canada curriculum and accreditation, students “will benefit from a unique and exceptional education and sport experience.”

“The goal is to integrate hockey into the school day,” explained Symchuk.  “For instance, Dean (Rebeck) told us that BH sets aside a 12 hour day every once in a while with it being hockey specific. There are already various models within and outside Manitoba.”  Symchuk said that many of the academy’s details are well along in their development.  They even want to honour local hockey organizer and booster of women’s hockey, Orville Acres, by calling it the Orville Acres Female Hockey Academy. 

“The plan would be to billet the girls with families in Pinawa and it would not only help the girls pursuing hockey scholarships, but also benefit the growth of Minor hockey and school enrolments in Pinawa/ Whiteshell district.  “We’ll need staffing and a budget.  As well, we’ll need to develop a curriculum for grades 9-12.  We also need to upgrade the arena in Pinawa but the arena board has already passed the motion, unanimously, for the upgrades to the dressing room and storage for the girls.  So the arena board is just waiting for the go ahead to start the planning for winter of 2010.” 

Symchuk is pleased that the school itself is “perfect and well-suited to the concept,” and he believes the arena, “situated in a beautiful community,” will be ideal for this type of program.  “Pinawa is a beautiful town.  It’s like a resort town so it’s perfect for this,” he said.  “This is a program that will do so much for the hockey community in all of Manitoba.  With my connection to the provincial Aboriginal team, this type of program will give those girls plenty of incentive to do well in school.  There have been a lot of great Aboriginal players in this province, especially from the North, who have nothing to go home to. This will give these girls a tremendous option.  “This project will ultimately help every women’s hockey program in the province.”  Symchuk hopes the Pinawa High School Hockey Academy will be ready for its first season in the fall of 2010.

Thanks to Grassroots News October 2009

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