South Sask Academy set to launch season after successful first tryouts

Moose Jaw hockey players in two of the youngest age groups will be taking a different approach to the game when the new season kicks off later this month.

More ice time, more instruction and just more hockey in general is the plan behind the recently announced South Sask Academy, and based on early returns, things are already off to a solid start.

Around 50 players in the Under-11 and Under-9 divisions took part in a tryout and evaluation session at Barkman Arena recently, resulting in the formation of three teams. And from what organizers Evan Schwabe and Dayle Wilcox have seen, the base is there for a successful season.

“We’re excited about it and the parents and kids are excited about it, too, so we’ll give it a go and we’ll see how things will all turn out,” said Schwabe, a former AAA Warriors and NCAA standout who played two seasons in the ECHL. “All these kids are like minded and their parents are like minded in that they want more, where the two or three ice times per week from minor hockey weren’t quite enough, so that’s what we’re going to try and give them… We just want to give the kids another options, we saw it working other places and thought ‘why not here?’”

The SSA is the brainchild of Wilcox, who played for the Moose Jaw Warriors for three seasons from 1997-2000. His preliminary work over the last couple of years set things in motion, and he and Schwabe decided to pull the trigger this fall.

The idea for the Academy partially came out of what they’ve seen happening 20 minutes west of Moose Jaw with the Prairie Hockey Academy in Caronport. Players from that team had an immediate impact on the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors program — who Schwabe worked with as an assistant coach last season — and that led to the idea that starting even younger players in a hockey system similar to that could pay huge dividends in the future.

“On top of that, we’ve seen what’s happened in Alberta and B.C. and Ontario and the successes they’ve been having with their hockey academies, that kind of pushed us in that direction as well,” Schwabe said.

The Hockey Super League in Alberta is a program that isn’t sanctioned by Hockey Alberta or Hockey Canada and partially owned by Warriors legend Ryan Smyth. The Super League has grown into an 80-team behemoth covering over 1,000 players ranging in age from the 2004 to 2011 groups.

The SSA will carry many of their same ideals. More ice time — along with work with power skating and goaltending coaches on top of the usual practices and games — is the name of the game, and will ideally see rapid improvement for the players.

The initial plan after the first tryout will see teams in the U11 AAA, U11 AA and U9 AAA age groups. Player receive a minimum of four hours a week on the ice, along with 20-plus hours with power skating and skills professionals. That’s on top of developing players mentally and physically while promoting commitment, teamwork and respect.

The original plan was to see full-ice games and practices from September through March, including showcase weekends similar to those played by the PHA, but COVID-19 has put all that on hold.

For now, the ice time and training won’t change once things get going, and the teams will play in-house in three-on-three and four-on-four formats.

“We’ll just scrimmage within our bubble as per the Sask Health Authority’s guidelines,” Schwabe said. “If and when things open up, we’ve been in contact with some of the Alberta teams and might be able to get some exhibition games there, but all we can do until then is wait and see and do our thing.”

There is an elephant in the room, though.

Like the Hockey Super League in Alberta, the SSA is unsanctioned by Moose Jaw Minor Hockey, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association or Hockey Canada.

The SHA recently came out vehemently against any such organizations in Saskatchewan, but Schwabe remains hopeful things will work out and end up like coaches working with Little League and Baseball Canada teams in the same season — something Schwabe himself does.

The SSA will carry their own insurance and follow traditional safety guidelines.

“There have been people trying to get this kind of Elite league going for awhile and we’re hoping it ends up where they’re just happy to have the coaches and players in the game,” Schwabe said.

“The interest around the province in huge right now and we might be the first people to get it off the ground. Now hopefully others will follow suit and we can look at building this thing into something like we see in Alberta.”

For more information on the SSA, email [email protected] with any questions.