Coach

Often, new teams struggle, but that wasn’t the case for the North Island Cubs in their first season.

Joining AAA midget baseball in 2018, the team is made up of kids generally aged 15 to 17 from around the region, including several from Campbell River.

On the field, the Cubs, with coach Hugh Gurney at the helm, exceeded what anyone would’ve expected, placing second to the North Fraser Nationals. 

“We went right to the finals of the provincials,” Hugh says. “It was a good start for us.”

Hugh credits a strong parent group and the community for helping pull the baseball team together.

“We got some good support and some good backing,” he says. “I haven’t done it all by myself.”

Several players earned all-star honours, and a few played with the provincial team and signed letters of intent to play college baseball.

“It’s nice to see,” he says. “There’s a lot of good talent.”

Hugh, who also coaches ice hockey, credits the coaching he got in both sports growing up, and he is more than happy to take his turn as a leader and example for young athletes now.

“It’s fun. It’s really rewarding,” he says.

Bryce Cockburn started playing hockey in Campbell River before moving on to play junior A hockey, in the NCAA and professionally.

Now back home, he is giving back to local minor hockey players and coaches through Next Level Training, started almost a decade ago as a way to share his love of hockey. 

“This is our ninth year,” he says.

He ran hockey camps through Next Level part-time for several years while continuing to work a regular job, but for the last two years he’s been doing this work full-time. At present, he is the only Hockey Canada-certified skills coach on Vancouver Island. A couple of years ago, he was chosen for one of 24 spots to go to Calgary to be Hockey Canada certified level three skills coach. His next step is training as an advanced skills coach.

“I just got accepted to do that this year,” he says.

In March he was among a select group of dozen or so coaches chosen for the Hockey Canada Advanced Coaching Program — a group that included NHL skills coaches from the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs. “I was very happy and honoured to get selected,” he says.