Custom Pro Repair
7678 rue Edouard H8P 1T4 La Salle, QC, Canada

Pat and I will be taking some time off during the summer again. I will be attending the PHATS/SPHEM Convention solo this year, but Pat will most likely not come in while I’m away. So we will be closed this Thursday and Friday (June 20 & 21). We will take two weeks off starting on July 1st and will be back on Monday July 15th. Please make sure when shipping anything to us that they don’t get scheduled to be delivered between these dates as no one will be here to accept the packages. Thanks and have a great summer! -Ken

A pic of the Arena from last Knight. Going to head down from the hotel room to the game soon. The shop is closed for the holidays and we’ll be back on Thursday, January the 3rd. Pat and I would like to thank everyone again for supporting us and giving us another great year. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Some quick repalms snuck in between pro work the last few days.

Summer is almost here! Pat and I will be taking some time off during the summer. We will be attending the PHATS/SPHEM Convention so the shop will be closed as of Wednesday June 20th. Right after the convention, we will take two weeks off and will be back on Monday July 9th. Please make sure when shipping anything to us that they don’t get scheduled to be delivered between these dates as no one will be here to accept the packages. Thanks and have a great summer!

Two China/Asia Hockey pics with 1000 words: /: Pic 1: Jorell Crisostomo - who grew up in the Philippines - making an outdoor rink in London, ON,... Canada. Jorell is 17 years old and has been in Canada less than a year. He plays for the London Lakers of the GMHL Tier 2 Junior Hockey League. He has this opportunity mostly due to the coaching and mentoring of Carl Montano and the great support of his family - Joel Crisostomo Rose Jordan Crisostomo. In May of 2016, John R Laroche and I were able to shine a quick spotlight on some of Asia's hidden hockey gems at the U18 East Asia Showcase in Beijing. Thankfully, it started to pave a path to hockey's next level for a few young guys. The event could not have happened without the support of the London Lakers (Jeff L. Zehr and Ian Kennedy), Chris Beckford-Tseu, Dan Blackburn, Mario Cicchillo, Andrew Blair (Stanstead College), Kevin Parker and Blyth Academy (Neil Doctorow). As is described in Pic 2, getting a youth structure that all kids have access to - not just those who walk into a rink - should be our priority. However, giving older kids (14+ for now, and 16+ in 5 years) a chance to play at a high level is also important as it provides some hope for the beginners. Pic 2: International Hockey Ambassador, A.I.guru, speaker of Mandarin and member of the Shanghai Hockey Club, Matt Quaine of Los Angeles, CA, USA teaching hockey to a little Chinese girl at a Shanghai shopping mall. Finland's Jokerit Hockey Club along with the Finnish Consulate are making a splash outside the traditional hockey circles and investing in community outreach - something their local KHL counterparts might take a hint from: "Pssst, Red Star: get out in the community and do stuff!!!" It is important for us to reach Chinese kids and families at this early age - whether it be at a community outreach activity or at their school - before they enter a rink, which is (almost always) run with the wrong priorities: "money now" is #1 while kids having fun, inspiring them to "play for life" and "money tomorrow" are somewhere down on the list. Properly building hockey in China in a widespread and sustainable fashion (without getting side-tracked and distracted by 2022) requires kids and families to hear inspirational, motivational and profound messages from Day 1 with the sport. Groups like the Hong Kong Tigers (and Jr. Tigers), the BIIH (Beijing International Ice Hockey [adult league]), the SHC (Shanghai Hockey Club [adult league]), the Shanghai Thunderbirds, the Hangzhou West Lakers, the Dalian Dragons, Taipei's ROC Sports and Bauer's First Shift program (and not forgetting the pioneering China Sharks in 2007-09) are trying to spread our great hockey culture and philosophies in Greater China. Using these groups as champions to get a united message about hockey's greatness and values into the hearts and minds of Chinese youth, at the real grassroots level (primary schools and in the community), feels like a winning formula. Creating a way for young Chinese coaches to be brought along and trained in a proven system is of equal paramount importance. The sad reality is that the 37th best hockey country in the world has a dead-end youth hockey structure - it's recycling the system through former players who were pulled out of normal school in their mid-teens to "just learn hockey". They are therefore not skilled enough in many of the areas they now need to deal with everyday, especially a long term player development path/plan, learn to skate 'childhood educational concepts', etc.) and are often thrust into roles (like management, customer service, administration) they do not yet have the tools to excel at. Mix this with middle-to-upper class parents who really want their children to be the best and are still learning about hockey and you get a volatile and combustible cocktail of power, egos, money and 'keeping/losing face' constantly in a "ready-to-erupt" state (recreational sports [especially team sports] are still a relatively new concept here and many kids are still part of the one-child policy era). For example, the Beijing Hockey Association just canceled its U12 division for the rest of the season because a parent standing at the players' bench ran onto the ice to punch a referee in the face (granted the referee completely lost control of the game and was not trained or experienced enough for this kind of level or atmosphere), another parent shoved a kid who then swung his stick violently in retaliation after two incidents of gross checking from behind and charging (from the players' bench to the corner) right at the buzzer. Everyone said sorry, no one really got in trouble, the 95% of the division who had nothing to do with this also gets punished with no more league games this season and going forward, nothing will really change. The future and potential success of Chinese hockey lies most likely with the hundreds of millions of kids who don't skate or even know what hockey is yet and who still have a chance to be developed in a Top 5 system (if more of the bigger groups in the world trying to enter China could find a way to pool their resources, this would be more achievable). Now it seems that most of these organizations want to focus on the 8000-9000 youth players who already play in Greater China and are being 'developed' under a World #37 system. The hardware is not the problem; there are and there will be enough rinks. Anyone with a little cash can build a rink and hire former players from Heilongjiang Province to "coach" - but the key is the software - what are you doing inside the rink? HOW are you doing it? China hockey is a big, largely empty field with one apple tree planted in the middle. People and groups from around the world are all trying to pick the few apples off that one tree instead of together planting more and more trees to fill the field, so that in the future, everyone can have enough apples. We must break down the barriers and give the kids of China a fighting chance to develop in a healthy and prosperous environment that will keep them playing forever (not peaking at 8 and quitting at 12 like it is now). The base at the bottom must be strong - let's work together on giving China the best chance in the 2042 and 2046 Winter Olympics with a team full of homegrown athletes while continuing to nurture a booming player base with millions of players in love with hockey! #chinahockey #woaibingqiu #chinakidshockey (sorry they aren't black and white and that they have an explanation Frédérique Breault)