This morning, Portage la Prairie's North Memorial School saw certificates handed out to students who participated in the Recreation Opportunities for Kids Hockey Skills Program.

It was a 14 week program that started last October.

Recreation Supervisor Lynne Parker says seeing the kids' excitement at receiving the certificates is a good feeling.

"Because we work with a lot of these kids through a lot of our programs, we really have a good relationship with some of them," she says, adding,"We have one little girl that came to hockey one day, and she was tired. And I said 'Did you not get to sleep last night?', and she said 'I did, Lynne, but I couldn't sleep because I was so excited because I had hockey today.' Things like that just gives me the energy to keep moving on, and bring out whatever I can."

Lynne Parker and Stewart Akeley

Teacher Stewart Akerley says once the roughly 20 kids started the program, he noticed a couple of changes.

"The kids that were using skating aids on Day 1 were skating around without an aid (later), using a stick to play hockey, and coordinating the puck in their feet, and their hands, altogether. The other thing that we saw was they started helping each other out. When kids fell on the ice, they were helping other to stand back up, and encouraging each other. There was just this sense of community, and this tight-knit group that was growing together, like a real team."