PHOTOS: North Ayrshire Wild hockey camps are a huge success

And the club was pleased to welcome back former player Dayle ‘Keeno’ Innokas to participate in the club’s next generation player skills development summer program.

Keeno started at the club back at Magnum as a junior and played his way up to the under-19s before moving on from the club.

Fast forward 15 years and Keeno is now a highly successful coach working with Elite League side Coventry Blaze as well as coaching the UK Under 20s programme.

The pup found out that Keeno was home for a while and they quickly made him an offer to host a hockey camp.

KA Leisures Auchenharvie ice rink sold out, 35 kids – mostly from the Wild but some from Fife, Lanarkshire and Belfast – were put through their paces in a challenging five day schedule.

Kilmarnock-based physical trainer Katie Stanley helped put the players through an off-ice programme, developing agility and co-ordination, while Keeno ran a 17-hour on-ice program assisted by the clubs’ talented U16 and U19 players.

Keeno worked with players to improve their basic hockey skills through innovative design and constructive video sessions.

A happy returning player commented: It was great to be back helping the club where it all started for me.

– The week has been fun and the players have shown excellent commitment and development throughout the camp.

And while the camps were a huge success, many of the moving parts were far from the rink that made it possible.

The club would like to thank everyone responsible for a great few days of action – including a number of local businesses.

A North Ayrshire Wild spokesman said: “The club would like to thank Ruby, Community Manager at Asda in Irvine, Tom, Manager of Morrisons Stevenston, Lidl Stevenston and Premier Stores at Girdle Toll and Bourtreehill, Irvine, for supplying a range of food, fruit and water to support the breakfast which also kicks off throughout the week.”

Now the Wild Ice Hockey Club is getting ready to start back after the summer break, with practices starting in the first week of August.

If anyone is interested in playing ice hockey, the club has a fantastic ‘Learn-To-Play’ program with equipment available for new players and more information can be obtained by emailing [email protected].