Fans get taste of CHL life at Mavs Fantasy Camp

There was a new look to the Missouri Mavericks Fantasy Camp Tuesday night as seven of the 16 campers are women.

“I love it!” Mavericks coach Scott Hillman said. “It’s great to have the ladies out. We’ve had three or four in the past, but never this many. And they’re doing a great job. All the campers are having fun and we’re trying to teach them a thing or two.”

The camp is run by Hillman and Mavericks assistant director of hockey operations Simon Watson.

“This is a great group overall,” Watson said. “But the ladies make it special. And they get out and work hard on the ice and ask some great questions afterwards.”

The campers hit the ice at 7 p.m. and then head into the Mavericks’ locker room for a Q&A session that always runs past the 9 p.m. time allotment.

“I know I say this every year, but this is the funnest week of the year for me,” Hillman said. “I love working with the kids, but this year’s adult group is pretty special. They’re living their dream out on ice, then get to come into our locker room, have our staff take care of everything they need and then we have a nice Q&A session and the questions have been great.”

Betsy Kellerman, Diana Adams and Teresa Eblen all have boys who skate in the Jr. Mavs Hockey Program, and that’s a big reason they’re out on the ice.

“I’ve been skating since January,” Adams said. “And I love it. And I’m really enjoying this camp. It’s giving all of us an opportunity to appreciate what our boys go through when they’re out on the ice playing hockey.”

Kellerman agreed, adding, “The Mavericks have opened so many doors for boys and girls in the area with the Jr. Mavs program and now, they’re opening doors for the moms and dads to get on the ice too.”

While Kellerman and Adams have two boys in the Jr. Mavs program, Eblen has two boys out on the ice.

“They think it’s cool that Mom is out skating in the Fantasy Camp,” Eblen said. “They’re like ‘We have to skate together.’ They’re trying to get us to organize a Mom-kids game, which would be fun. But I know they’re try to kill us out there.”

Many of the questions following the ice session dealt with the life of a CHL player or coach and the insight into the upcoming training camp.

“Every player – and the coach – has his job on the line every night,” Hillman confessed. “None of us make a lot of money – certainly not enough to retire on. But we make enough to survive, but there are no pensions, no perks, no first-class travel. But we don’t mind. For so many of the guys, it’s make $500 a week or go pound nails for a living.

“You have three games in three nights, four games in five nights and eight games in 12 nights. And those come after 9-, 10- or 12-hour bus rides. It’s a very unique environment and one we wouldn’t trade for anything.”

In the past, the Mavericks have brought between 28 to 30 players into camp, knowing they would keep 20.

“We can dress 18 and have 19 healthy bodies,” Hillman said. “We’re bringing around 20 guys into camp, and that will probably include three goalies, and we’re going to work with the nucleus of players who are going to make this team.

“We’re finally at a point where we brought back the solid core of last year’s team and we have some exciting signing announcements coming in the very near future.”

The Fantasy Campers begged him for more information, but he remained tight lipped.
“We have to keep a few secrets,” Hillman said, “just to keep things interesting.”