At the Try Hockey event, roughly 1,000 people picked up a stick, learned about the game, and took shots at shooter tutors, with prizes for those who hit the targets. Mahesh led sessions for coaches and players from the Chandigarh and Punjab Hockey Associations, sharing fundamentals, strategies, and terminology used in North American hockey.
The on-floor experience was a little different from what he is used to. The practice took place on roller skates, which was nostalgic for Mahesh, and gave him a chance to step into their world and understand the environment in which they develop their skills.
“It’s fun because you could tell that they were really passionate to learn about it,” Mahesh said.
“It’s a lot of fundamental things that they’re working on now, and it [the event] was also about giving the coaches a platform to reach out and ask questions throughout the year as they’re doing this.”
Mahesh could see the promise on the parents’ faces, along with the excitement of the players and coaches getting the chance to learn from a professional coach.
“Even after the practice, just seeing some of the pride on the parents’ faces because their kids got to take part in an event that was sponsored by an NHL team, and just to be a part of that was really exciting for me,” Mahesh said.
Mahesh was one of the first calls Janda made as he was putting the India Hockey 360 group together. Janda has seen Mahesh’s proven coaching talent, but said Mahesh brought so much more than X’s and O’s to the festival.
“One of the things I really appreciate about Harry is that even though he’s a pro coach, his ability to connect with a player, a young player, an older businessman, or a coach who is 35 or 40 years old is incredible. The language of sincerity and the language of caring he has, that’s international,” Janda said.
Despite the time difference between North America and India and the fact that NHL games are hard to watch due to television rights, Mahesh discovered there’s still a strong fan base. Mahesh met a fan who never misses a Canucks game and many others who catch the occasional game through streaming. In North America, most kids grow up idolizing players and want to emulate that, but in India most of the kids who play do so just for the love of the game.
In a region where access to hockey facilities remains limited, that enthusiasm offers an opportunity to introduce more people to the sport. Chandigarh is a major city near the states of Punjab and Haryana, but the closest ice rink is approximately three hours away. Across a country of more than a billion people, there are only a handful of ice rinks.
That makes it important to meet players where they are. The festival included street and roller hockey equipment, helping participants explore the game in a format accessible to them while building interest in hockey more broadly.
Source: www.nhl.com
