Brayden Pachal, Zach Benson teach young players at Bruins' hockey school

ESTEVAN - The Estevan Bruins Hockey School has been giving young players the chance to work on their skills before the start of the 2023-24 season, while learning from a couple of high-profile instructors.

Estevan's Brayden Pachal, a defenceman for the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, was on the ice with the kids on Monday afternoon. He was joined by Zach Benson, who was selected in the first round, 13th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in June's NHL Entry Draft.

The hockey school started Monday and will continue until Friday. More than 100 kids have been participating. 

Pachal was helping out with the camp 15 days after he brought the Stanley Cup to Estevan, and he was delighted to be back on the ice in the Energy City.

"The kids are out here to have fun and obviously are gearing up for hockey season, so that's what it's all about," Pachal said in an interview with the Mercury and SaskToday.ca.

They focused on edge work to help the players improve the skating. The athletes have been receptive to the message, he said, and they've been working hard while having fun.

"If you become a good skater first, you can work on the rest of the things afterwards," said Pachal, whose father Kent always preached the importance of being a good skater.

The message stuck, because Brayden Pachal has been known for his skating ability since he was a minor hockey player in Estevan.

He's been training pretty hard to get ready for the start of training camp in the fall.

Benson is from Chilliwack, B.C., and he knows Bruins' head coach and general manager Jason Tatarnic from when Tatarnic was working in that city.

"We created a pretty good relationship there, and he did a lot for me," said Benson. "So, when he asked me to come out here, I definitely wanted to come out here, I definitely wanted to give back to him as well."

Also, when Benson was four or five years old, he was in Estevan, as his family operates West Coast Amusements, which supplies the midway for the Estevan Fair.

He was happy to see the number of kids on the ice, trying to improve and move onto the next level.

"I've been running a few drills. Tarts [Tatarnic] and Drew [Bruins' assistant coach Drew Kocur] have it pretty good here. They're first-class coaches, so every session we go on, they're organized, so I've been running one station per ice session."

It's great to be in a community like Estevan, Benson said. He heard from Tatarnic they have a pretty good fan base, and Benson marvelled at Affinity Place, which he said is as nice as a Western Hockey League facility.

"It's pretty first class," said Benson. "I'm happy for Jason, and it sounds like they're going to have a pretty good team this year. I'm sure the fans are going to be pretty wowed."

Benson will be at the Sabres training camp in September. If he doesn't crack the roster, he'll be skating with the Western Hockey League's Wenatchee Wild. The Winnipeg Ice, where Benson played the past three seasons, announced their move to Wenatchee in the offseason.