Lancer hockey players give back to local youths

Lancer men’s hockey captain Brett Vandehogan is known as “the Roadrunner” in Blenheim, where he starred on the Blenheim Blades junior team. Now an education student, he is working with local youth to pass on the skating skills that earned him that nickname.

Vandehogan and Lancer teammates Brett Oliphant, Spencer Pommells, Matt Renaud, D.J. Turner and Parker VanBuskirk—all involved in teaching and coaching—spent an hour on the ice with peewee players from the Blenheim area, Tuesday at Windsor Arena.

Eleven-year-old Seumas Hetherington saw first-hand how Vandehogan got his moniker.

“I can’t believe how fast those guys go!” he said. “I only hope I can be like that one day.”

Education professor Kara Smith said she appreciates seeing these young men find a way to repay some of the support they have received along the way.

“It is important that we remember and thank the communities and programs that made us,” she said. “I think providing free skills workshops, as these future teachers have done, is wonderful.”

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