North Stars train at Elitehockey.net

North Bay North Stars player Terry Larivee gets a few pointers from Elitehockey.net co-owner Ron Gravelle in the Stickhandling area. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Jordan Piche laces up his skates as he prepares to skate on the synthetic ice at Elitehockey.net for the very first time.

"It's good, it will be a good workout for our North Stars. It's good off-ice training," said the North Bay North Stars player.

Elitehockey.net co-owner Ron Gravelle has followed the North Bay North Stars Special Needs team from its beginning in 2007 and he felt he wanted to give back to Northern Ontario's only Special Needs hockey program. So Gravelle decided to donate 3 hours of ice time Saturday afternoon to Piche and his North Stars teammates.

"Their numbers have grown from a small amount barely icing a team to having 36 kids and adults involved now, and I think it's great for everyone involved," said Gravelle Saturday afternoon about the groups which tried out the hydraulic skating ramp, the stickhandling station, took shots and even played on the small synthetic ice rink at the Wallace Road facility.

North Stars manager Sharon Fung believes the unique training will benefit the players as they prepare for a contest Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gardens against another Special Needs team from Hanover, Ontario.

"It's very nice I think for the players to actually to get together as a group off the ice, its very much a social activity for them and see how they connect outside of the rink and its a really generous a really nice thing that he was able to bring the players in," said Fung.