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The Vulcans players and coaches stand behind the bench during a shootout in a game in Camrose on Dec. 29. (Vulcans Prince Albert/Facebook)
MORE THAN HOCKEY

Building men of character through hockey in 2023 for the Vulcans

Jan 1, 2023 | 12:00 PM

After a dominant first half of the season, the future is looking sharp for a Prince Albert hockey team.

The U18 AA Vulcans are back from participating in a hockey tournament in Camrose, Alta.

The team was dominant in its preliminary games, setting up a big semi-final matchup this past Thursday.

Despite losing in the semi-finals through a shootout, the team had an impressive performance at the event and hopes to carry that momentum when they return to league play.

The Vulcans finished 2022 with the best record in their division in the SAAHL with 18 wins and two regulation losses, something head coach Derek Simonson hopes to continue.

“We’re just going to try and continue what we’re doing now,” he said. “Focus on some really good things, short little goals and get us through to the end of the season and hopeful that we’ll finish somewhere at the top,”

He said with less than 14 games remaining in the season, the team is up for the challenge and hoping to match some of those goals, heading into the postseason.

Above all, Simonson and the coaching staff say their focus is more than just hockey. Simonson, a member of the Prince Albert Police Service, believes in the power of developing character over skill.

“That does influence success whether it’s in sports or other professional settings,” he said.

Throughout this year and from all the teams he has coached in the past, he wants to develop the players to be good members of the community.

“Hockey is simply one avenue or mechanism to teach really good life skills,” he said. “All of our youth are going to be probably in the workforce so if we could provide them a little bit of that culture and skill set to be good people in our community and good hockey players, that’s important,” Simonson said.

The Vulcans’ next game is on Jan. 4 as they host North East before hitting the road the following weekend.

derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @PA_Craddock