The new Kamloops AK Hockey hopes to open up in early July at Sahali Mall (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

AK HOCKEY

New skating and skills development space opening in Kamloops in July

Jun 23, 2021 | 4:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — Today’s hockey world is more competitive than ever. Players are trying anything to make them even a little bit quicker and skilled on the ice.

“A big part of [gaining an advantage] is skating,” said Blazers forward Logan Stankoven. “I think just the way the game’s going these days, you have to be a great skater and it only gets faster as you move up in the ranks.”

Among the many trainers he’s worked with over the years, Stankoven has trained with Aaron Konecsni — the found of AK Hockey, a skating and skills development company started in 1998.

“AK Hockey takes players from all ages and all levels and we assess their skating and skill ability and then we create customized programs for each player,” said Konecsni, who’s based in Kelowna.

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Konecsni has worked with players such as Jonathan Toews and Shea Weber among many others. Stankoven has noticed a big difference in his skating since working with Konecsni.

“Definitely my skating and my skills. I’ve known Aaron since I’ve been a young kid and he’s always been great to me in terms of reaching out to me and always wanting me to come to his camp and pushing me to that next level,” he said.

Stankoven would travel to Kelowna to work with him, but now there’s an AK Hockey opening in Kamloops next month — at the old Target location inside Sahali Mall.

“I ended up putting my son in one of Aaron’s on-ice camps and I got the opportunity to just chat with Aaron one day after the camps and I was like, “When are you coming to Kamloops?’ He’s like, ‘I want to set up a franchise.’ I’m like, ‘Ok let’s talk about this,'” said owner of the Kamloops AK Hockey Domenic Fiorenza.

Konecsni added, “A lot of my clients were coming from Kamloops to Kelowna, it just made sense to be here. It’s such a strong hockey community and the kids that I’ve trained here are very committed and they work hard, so we feel that we’re going to get a lot of results out of Kamloops. It’s the most important piece to our puzzle at this point.”

Fiorenza secured the perfect space at Sahali Mall — 12,000 sq. ft. of space that will have the largest and fastest Skatemill in the world at 40 kilometres an hour. It will also be the largest synthetic training facility in Canada.

The synthetic ice will be almost like skating on the real thing.

“The synthetic ice we decided to go with is a high-density polymer and it’s solid,” said Fiorenza. “Basically, it is self-lubricating plastic, so it allows you to glide on it, whereas a lot of synthetic ices don’t even allow that. The information on the ice is basically that it’s 95 per cent to real ice.”

Fiorenzas plan to open the new AK Hockey location in July. Blazers like Stankoven will be coaches, as well as some Kamloops Storm players.

“Having him open up a training centre like this here in town is going to be great for the community. I’m really looking forward to not only working here but being able to train here myself and improve as a player,” noted Stankoven.