The event -- which will be open to the first 80 players on a first-come, first-serve basis -- will feature Millar offering tips and tricks and all sorts of advice for players on dealing with COVID-19 shutdowns and hockey in general.
It all came out of MJMHA president Chis Flanagan sending a simple text to Millar earlier this week. Given that Millar -- part of the management group with the National Junior Team, which is currently in quarantine in a hotel in Red Deer -- had a bit of time on his hands for Monday night, it seemed like a perfect fit.
“Chris has a strong relationship with our team, he’s our security liaison and helps our team out and in particular is a great resource for our players, so I’m really happy to be able to do this,” Millar said from Red Deer Friday afternoon. “We’ll talk about the game and what everyone is going through with hockey being up and down and paused, we’ll talk a little bit about this experience with the World Junior team. It’s going to be fun and I’m looking forward to it.”
Flanagan said that having a chance to meet with and learn from a veteran of the hockey wars like Millar is a unique opportunity for young up-and-coming players.
“Being able to get someone like Al Millar on a Zoom call and talk to these kids, offering some advice about what to do when you’re stuck at home, any kind of advice he has will be great,” Flanagan said. “They’re doing a lot of that in the bubble right now, so if he can share some of that for our kids in Moose Jaw that’s a real positive.”
Millar is taking much the same approach to the event.
“Young players and young people, their development is important and anything I can share as an old guy and from my experiences, whether with my club teams or the experiences I’ve had with Team Canada, I’m happy to do it,” he said. “I’ll be able to share some of what goes on with elite athletes here and the adversity we’re going through and if any of that information can help them, that would be great.”
As mentioned, the call is open to the first 80 players who contact Flanagan at president@mjhockey.com. He’ll send the Zoom call information over, everyone will log in at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 7 and it’ll be show time. The event will be moderated by Warriors director of business administration and voice of the Warriors James Gallo.
And if you’re reading this on Friday night or before the weekend, know that you better get your info sent in quickly.
“I’ve had 20 e-mails so far with kids wanting to join, all the way from the Novice level to the Midget level who want to join this, so that’s cool,” Flanagan said. “It’s nice to see people jump on it while they can, I had people e-mailing me in the first 10 minutes wondering if there were still spots, so they know it’s going to fill up quick.”
