"Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland." - Foster Hewitt
This is my first entry of the Slapshot Alley Journal. This is a big year for Slapshot Alley as we get ready to open the second location.
The concept of Slapshot Alley evolved out of a shooting instruction program that began with BASE Hockey, a hockey stick company owned by Cliff Ronning. We sold sticks for about 10 years until 2020 when the pandemic shut the factory down. Slapshot Alley opened as a separate shooting instruction company. Cliff and I (Andre Parfeniuk), opened the doors to Slapshot Alley on Bridgeport Road in Richmond in January 2021.
The story of the graffiti is about learning how to shoot in an alley, where Cliff and I both practiced our shots as a kid. Often times there is some cool little bits of graffiti around those alleys so we thought, let's do it right and we hired Jeremy. His instagram page is here https://www.instagram.com/can_action/
It's been 4 years, and Slapshot Alley has grown. We have 4 new coaches: Terence, Lucas, Keasha and Kendric. We will be opening up a second location on Number 6 Road, not too far away from the first location. This year we worked with 4 different associations, the Richmond Ravens, the Vancouver Thunderbirds, the Vancouver Angels, and the Tri-City Predators, including all of the private lessons, so we need more space to teach all of our players. Next year, we are planning to work with the Richmond Jets.
Slapshot Alley's are needed everywhere so it will be a fun journal keep track of our expansion. I would like to help collaborate with Hockey Canada and other hockey coaches develop a shooting instruction curriculum that can be taught in the associations. The hockey shot has many different styles and is taught with different ways. It would be nice if all hockey coaches collaborated together and found the best way to optimize shooting instruction so it is consistent for everyone.
So here we go! I will keep track of everything on this journal and see how far we get.
Feb 25, 2025
Today I had a great start at 9am with one of my regular dads. He's learning how to shoot for himself as he is playing in a beer league, but it's also a great idea to learn as a dad to teach your kid. Even if you aren't that great of a shooter, you don't have to be great to teach and give your kid feedback while they are practicing. You just have to learn the basics to keep an eye on your kid so you can make sure they aren't developing any bad habits... like staring at the puck and being lazy like shooting on two feet not transferring the weight.
We talked about the difference between the HPL league and the Richmond Jets. Last year they were in the HPL and this year they went back to the Richmond Jets. This is such an important discussion for hockey parents, as most hockey parents don't know what to do. I would love to invite people onto the Slapshot Alley Podcast to talk about their experiences in these leagues, so new parents can figure out what is best for their kids.
We also talked about growing up playing roller hockey on the streets and how this culture has disappeared in Vancouver (probably not in colder parts of Canada though where kids can play on the lakes but I'm not sure). For me, I would love to bring back this part of the game for kids. My best years of hockey development was playing every day at our school ice rink at Dr A E Perry Elementary school in Regina, and then on Como Lake in Coquitlam (in the 80's when the lakes used to freeze), but even on my rollerblades at Hickey Courts and then Queen Elizabeth Park... where hockey is FREE to play... with your friends.
Thanks for reading and come back for more as I will try to keep up regularly as things progress. See you on the ice!
Coach Andre
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