Recently a number of the best under-17 hockey players gathered at the Eddie Mountain Memorial Arena in Invermere to take part in a BC Hockey Male Under 17 High Performance Program.

This program is an introduction to International High Performance Hockey which involves a series of short term camps and competitions just as our national teams are exposed to at a higher level.

This year five players who were a part of the Windermere Valley Minor Hockey Association’s midget team took part in the camp.

The goal of the camp was to not only have the chance to learn from the coaches who were on-hand for the weekend, but also to try and qualify for the Kootenay representatives who will be going to Salmon Arm from May 12-15 for the BC Cup.

One player, Damon Raven, qualified for the trip to Salmon Arm and is now looking forward to playing with some of the best hockey players in British Columbia.

“I had a good camp this year. It went really well, much better than the U16 camp last year,” Raven said.

He felt that over the past year he has been working harder off ice to make his performance on ice a more solid all around game.

When players go to the BC Cup they will not be playing with all the players from their region. Players are immediately broken up into six teams upon arrival to the camp.

“Everyone gets all mixed up there. It will be a challenge but it is nice to achieve my goal that I set for myself half-way through this year. I am happy to have this chance to play with the best in B.C.,” he said.

From this camp 23 players will attend the U17 Regional Camp joining 23 players from Alberta in Calgary and also may have the opportunity play to the World U17 challenge for a select few.