NHL's Quint brings Olympians to girls hockey camp at Ham Arena

Hockey with your idols, not a bad way to spend your summer. Former Olympians, past and present members of University of New Hampshire women's hockey team, are in town at Ham Arena, working as counselors for Deron Quint Hockey Operations. Making things all the more special for the 24 or so young girls attending the camp is that Deron Quint is running things. They're on the ice with an NHL player.Camp, which started Monday morning, is running smoothly with local skaters and residential campers staying at Camp Robin Hood being put through their paces with big grins all the while soaking up all the words of wisdom and then watching in awe as the counselors put on a hockey clinic.Among those joining Quint here this week are defensive instructors Kerry Maher, Jaime DeGriselles and Kristen Thomas; forwards Carisa Zaban (UNH's all-time leading goal scorer) and Heidi Seidewand; power skating expert Bonnie Varney-Lachance; and UNH starting goalie Jen Huggon."When we first put the camps together, one of the big things Deron wanted was to set it up with the best people possible to help run it," Tim Quint, his father and trainer for the camp, said. "We went and got people these girls know, look up to and respect. We have people here who are looked upon as idols by some of our campers."Quint, who was assistant captain for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season, is currently testing the free-agent waters this summer. He's looking at six teams, including the Boston Bruins. The southern New Hampshire native admits he'd like to "get a little bit closer to home," with his next team. Quint is having a blast in Mount Washington Valley, being able to give something back to a community that has been so good to his family. "We knew this area was fairly new with the Ham Arena and it was the perfect place for a camp," he said. "My mom and dad both are from this area and it's exciting to me to be able to give something back for him."We're off to a good start," Quint continued. "We're all having a blast. It's great to see the enthusiasm and willingness to learn."This week Quint and his staff are teaching specialized segments on power skating, shooting, passing, stick handling and team play. Off-ice activities include conditioning programs, tactical positioning of the defensive zone coverage, breakouts, offensive zone play, forechecking/backchecking and special team play."We couldn't be more happy with how things are going," David Dore, assistant general manager for Ham Arena, said. "While I'm impressed with what's going on on the ice, I'm even more impressed with what they're doing off the ice a lot of thought has gone into this and every detail is covered. They've taken everything into account. They even took all of the girls out for pizza and to the movies (Wednesday night). I've been to many, many camps, admittedly never a girl's camp, but I never got to do anything like that. They even saw on an application that it was one of the girl's birthdays this week and they made sure there was birthday cake."Quint will run a men's weekend clinic this Saturday and Sunday and it's open to 96 participants (aged 19 and older) with athletes divided into six teams for practice and competition. The two days will provide participants with 3 hours of on-ice skill instruction and drills for development. There will be 3 hours of off-ice tactical sessions focusing on coaching offensive and defensive systems of play. The strategies outlined will be: defensive zone coverage; 5 vs. 5; penalty killing; 4 vs. 5; 3 vs. 5 breakout; neutral zone coverage; offensive zone attacks; the power play; 5 vs. 4; 5 vs. 3; and forechecking systems.Camp runs each day from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost is $90.Coaches are Quint and Ken Linseman, instructors are Freddie Mayer, defense, and Chris Quint, forwards.Aug. 12 to 16, Quint will offer a week of skill clinics for the Squirt, Pee Wee and Bantam age groups at Ham Arena. These 90 minute sessions will conduct drills to enhance the basic skills of skating, stick handling, passing and shooting. During each session, there will be positional specific drills for defensemen and forwards.Sessions run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $75.Registration forms are available at the Ham Arena or you can visit www.DeronQuintHockey.com or call 868-7042 for more information.