The inaugural season for the Kootenay Hockey Academy has come to an end and the Cranbrook Bucks’ owner and president is happy with what they accomplished.
Owner and president Nathan Lieuwen said it’s been good getting to see more players from the area.
“It’s been a great year for the academy. We’re well into recruiting for next year,” he added.
“It’s been great to support some locals, I think we had 13 East Kootenay players on the team this year. It’s been a really good program for us so far.”
As a goalie himself, Lieuwen said it’s been nice to work with the local goaltenders.
“There are a lot of good goaltenders around here that I’m fortunate enough to work with,” he said.
“We’ve done a pretty good job with goalies as a franchise so hopefully we can continue to build that.”
The academy season came to an end during a play-in-tournament at the end of February.
The team defeated Lethbridge 4-3 but fell to Lloydminster to be eliminated from playoff contention.