Since the fall of 2022 when NHA (Northern Hockey Academy) first opened to the public, the hockey and multi-sport facility has welcomed in folks from right across northern Ontario - and beyond.

The notion of reaching out to meet some of them on their own turf was all too natural, especially for business partner and hockey volunteer Blake Didone.

"Blake has always had a connection to Manitoulin Island," noted NHA General Manager Andrew Tessier, his employer having a camp in Kagawong that served as central base for the collection of folks from the Kelly Lake Road venue that made their way to the Island, last month, hosting a youth hockey camp for the first time in Little Current.

"It was a really good team building experience for us, spending time together away from the rink," Tessier added.

That said, the primary focus was and always has been the on-ice offering for those who embrace all that is the NHA.

"My frame of mind is: what do we want to leave them with?," said Tessier. "We can have all sorts of drills - but I wanted to know that they had something tangible to hold on to."

With a fairly wide spectrum of talent ranging in ages from seven to 17, breaking down the mechanics of skating became a shared function for all instructors, the importance of which can never be understated.

"Having worked with a lot of players from that area, one of the things that I have often seen was the need to ensure the player utilized the flat edge, remained balanced with good posture," said Tessier.

A member of the Sudbury U18 "AA" Lady Wolves team that earned silver at the 2019 Esso Cup, Maddy Papineau went on to play four years with the RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) Engineers, graduating earlier this year with a Masters in Product Chain Management.

From a skill-set standpoint and the instruction of same, Papineau walks in lockstep with Tessier.

"Skating is definitely my favourite thing," said the 23 year-old who returned home, post-graduation, a welcomed addition to the NHA offering. "It's important to get them on the flat edges, low in the stance, chest up - the correct posture."

"If you correct that, everything else comes more naturally."

Working alongside fellow NHA'ers Jadran Beljo, Tyler Shaw, Hunter Brazier, Maddy Papineau and the goaltending tandem of Matty Mayhew and Noah Beaulne, Andrew Tessier suggested that transforming talented hockey players into effective instructors is not all that difficult - when you hire the right people.

"We're very fortunate that the people who have been part of NHA have often entered our group with a ton of skill and knowledge and, more importantly, are people who are constantly focused on improvement and hold themselves accountable," he said.

"It's a matter of breaking down the skill to easy steps or cues that the kids can latch on to."

The final product, at the end of the week, is something that makes the entire crew proud.

"It was really, really rewarding to see just how much improvement there was in a matter of just a few days," stated Papineau.