The Chestermere Lakers Peewee 4 hockey team have been putting a unique twist on team building this season.
With the encouragement of their head coach, Mike Jukic, the team have been going out and shoveling driveways and sidewalks for Chestermerians who need a helping hand this winter.
“Right from day one…I mentioned I want to do things for the community, give back to the community that’s been so good to you guys,” said Jukic.
After some discussion with the team the idea of shoveling sidewalks for seniors and disabled members of the community for free and by donation for anyone else was settled upon.
“Our coach had a really good idea,” said Peewee4 Lakers Assistant Captain Kaiden Larocque, 11.
While the kids we’re excited at first, Jukic admits he wasn’t sure if that enthusiasm would hold once the snow actually hit the ground.
“And then Christmas hit…and I think we did probably 30 driveways two days before Christmas when that first snowfall hit,” he said.
“And the kids were ecstatic, they were having fun out there,” said Jukic.
In fact, the kids have enjoyed it so much, one of them gave up tickets to see the Hitmen play in Calgary so that he could go shoveling with the last big snowfall in February.
“It’s really fun when there’s more than just one person doing it,” said Larocque.
Giving back to the community has been part of Jukic’s goal to help the kids prepare for the next step in their lives through the game of hockey
“Right from day one we tell the kids life’s not about hockey,” said Jukic.
The goal of the coaching staff has been to use their team sport of hockey to help the kids grow into being good people.
“We told them our goal’s not to win hockey games but to become young adults,” he said.
And while the team isn’t having a winning season on the ice, Jukic feels that they are getting a lot out of giving back to the community as a team.
To date, Jukic said they have cleared over 60 driveways and plan to keep going as long as the snow keeps coming.
“We feel like there’s lots of people that are in need of…help with their driveway ‘cause they can’t shovel all the snow,” said Larocque.
