Moose Jaw's Dustin Ernest, a former junior and professional hockey player, is holding camps near Mosaic Place to try to help get kids back in hockey playing shape. 

Ernest is taking advantage of an opportunity to hold the camps for kids, as long as the groups are still below 30, and physical distancing is in place.

"I started this for the month of June for sure, and then the first week of July," he said. "I guess depending on baseball or whatever other sports, or whatever they open up for kids, I'll keep doing this thing for them. I'm hoping to get back on the ice... I'll be doing a little bit of both at the same time. It's been good."

Space in the program will be limited, and there's hockey-specific training for things like shooting. 

"We're working on different exercises for being active," said Ernest. "I've got Sarah Clark down there and she's a personal trainer. She's running the kids through kind of a growth chart program; running, squats, sit-ups and stuff like that. So half the kids work with her, and then after than half-hour, they come with me, and they're working on shooting, and skipping, and just some hockey-related stuff that's going to get them back into shape."

Ernest is careful to avoid the groups getting too large under COVID-19 restrictions.  

"I think I've got a couple of groups with 12 kids in it," he said. "Ages 8-to-10, and then I've got 11-to-13, And I've got a 13-to-16-year-old group, and  then I've got two groups on Monday that are ranging in around 9 to 11."

As well, notable Moose Jaw hockey athletes like Chantz Petruic, Reece Newkirk and Bryan Thomson are there with the kids. Others include Regan Seiferling, Jeron Kletzel, Ben Wourms-Rowe, Chase Lacombe, Brady Grasdal and Jaxsen Wiebe. 

Ernest has a Facebook site and a website as well.