PORT McNEILL — A local boy made good has returned to share his knowledge with the North Island’s next generation of hockey hopefuls.
Clayton Stoner, who grew up in Port McNeill and now plays hockey for the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, is putting local skaters through the paces this week in the first Clayton Stoner Vancouver Island Summer Hockey Clinic at Chilton Regional Arena.
The clinic, which features a separate goalie component and another half-dozen coaches and staff, has provided area players on-ice and off-ice training, lecture sessions, and photos and autographs with Stoner and other staffers.
In addition to the goalie clinic, which has three coaches dedicated to the netminders, two different sessions are being held, with players separated by age level.
The camp will run through tomorrow and wrap up with final autograph and photo sessions.
Stoner, whose family still lives in Port McNeill’s Hyde Creek neighbourhood, recently attended the school awards day and presented the top athlete trophies at Sunset Elementary School, which he attended as a youngster.
The clinic is the second of three consecutive hockey camps being held while summer ice is in at the arena. Last week, the North Island Eagles rep hockey program hosted a player skills camp.
Next week, Lou Lemire returns for the third straight year with his Lou Lemire Summer Hockey Skills Camp. Registration for the camp is still available online at loulemirehockeycamp.com.
