A hockey league for learning

One month ago, Randi Jo Kubik, 12, stepped onto the ice at the Treadwell Arena for the first time in her life. After fumbling with the skates, pads and helmet provided to her by the organizers of the Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School Culture Club's ice hockey program, she spent an hour maneuvering her legs over the glossy surface.

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"It was a little scary at first," Kubik said Tuesday before venturing onto the ice for another practice session. "I didn't know what to do."

Though she's not the star of the hockey club, she now can hold her own with the three other girls and eight boys that comprise the club. She didn't remain vertical for the entirety of Tuesday's practice, but she kept a smile on her face.

"It's fun," Kubik said. More fun than her other after-school activities, because "you don't have to just sit around and watch TV."

Almost without exception, the skaters in the Culture Club's hockey program do it because it's fun, they said.

"I like shooting goals and doing the right stuff," said Ernesto Flores, 12. "Like passing to my friends and playing games with them."

Teaching kids teamwork, new skills and giving them a chance to exercise is why Tom McKenna and his brother, Dave, along with Bill Spear and Annie Calkins, started the league last year. Students in the league are provided gear, weekly ice time and coaching free of charge.

The organizers saw the opening of the Treadwell Arena as a perfect opportunity to introduce hockey to kids who might not otherwise have the chance to play, Tom McKenna said. So they gathered donations to rent skate time from the arena, and solicited businesses and individuals to donate gear.

"I just see a lot of kids that are athletic ... but they may have the attitude that they're not really included or that hockey isn't for them," said Bill Spear, who has solicited donations for the group and plays with the kids occasionally.

"Hockey is a sport where somebody can work their way up from nowhere and be just as good," he said.

The McKennas, who grew up playing hockey, are the primary coaches in the league.

"I played hockey all my life and I'm sure it kept me out of trouble along the way," said Dave, who played professionally in Holland for a year after graduating from college.

"These are kids that have tons of energy to begin with," he said. "They're the kinds of kids that bounce off the wall all day long. Hockey is perfect for these kinds of kids."

The first half of the weekly session is spent doing the same set of five drills, Dave McKenna said. Kids skate backward, skate forward, stop quickly and then start again, and take aim at the goal with Tom or Dave defending.

The second half of the hour is spent in a scrimmage game, the two goals moved to the sides of the rink to shrink the playing field.

The transformation that takes place in the kids during the course of the season is remarkable, said Dave McKenna.

"At the beginning of last year we kind of had to herd these kids out," he said. "Then by the end of the season they were in the parking lot waiting for my car to come."

Some of the kids may move on to play in the competitive youth hockey league. Others may just take their newfound skating skills and enjoy them at a more leisurely pace at open skates or on lakes. Gene Chilton, 14, decided to stick around with the league after he moved on to high school, helping the younger kids learn the skills.

"The main thing is trying to give kids a chance to try it out who might want to have access to this facility and its programs but who don't know it yet because it hasn't been a part of their world," said Tom McKenna.

Organizers hope to include students at Gastineau Elementary School in the program next year. How much the program grows, though, will be determined by the amount of donations and gear the organizers can solicit.

"It would be really nice if somebody would come in and be the godfather and pay for the ice time," said Spear. "At this point we're skating and we've got the personnel and the people there, but we're just living hand-to-mouth for ice time."

For more information on helping the Culture Club hockey program, contact Matthew Edison at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School.

• Christine Schmid can be reached at cschmid@juneauempire.com.