For the second year in a row, the NC State club hockey team is working with the First Goal program at the Raleigh IcePlex to help children learn to skate and play hockey.

First Goal is a beginner hockey program sponsored by the Carolina Hurricanes, CCM and numerous youth hockey organizations around the Raleigh area. The NC State team works specifically at the Raleigh IcePlex, its home rink, but there are also seven other First Goal locations with different instructors.

On Sundays and Wednesdays for seven weeks during the summer, around 50 children ages 4 to 8 traveled to the Raleigh IcePlex to learn how to play hockey with the help of NC State players and other instructors from different hockey backgrounds.

Senior captain of the NC State club hockey team, Sam Banasiewicz, explained how First Goal is impacting not only the children involved but also the instructors.

“We’ve got IcePlex youth kids coming out to help, IcePlex travel coaches, the Raleigh Surge, Carolina Eagles kids, Junior Hurricanes kids,” Banasiewicz said. “It’s just a big collage of people of all backgrounds with youth and amateur hockey in the Raleigh area that come out and help instructor-wise.”

Along with Banasiewicz, junior goalie Joey Hall, sophomore forward Owen Drugan, senior forward Matt Vallillo and junior defenseman Jon Kokkelenberg all helped out over the summer. Mike Gazzillo, the team’s head coach and youth hockey coordinator at the Raleigh IcePlex, also donated his time and skills to the kids involved with the First Goal program.

“We try to have as many instructors out there as possible,” Banasiewicz said. “We’ll run basic passing drills, skating drills, we put nets out there for them to shoot on.”

Each instructor has their own experience of the First Goal program, but Banasiewicz takes a different approach to the program and focuses on helping the smaller children who have never stepped foot on the ice.

“I will try to grab someone that can’t skate at all,” Banasiewicz said. “I will take them to the corner and I’ll try to work with them on taking baby steps and get a feel for it.”

The experience of learning how to skate and even play hockey can be moving, not only for the children involved but also the parents and the instructors.

“I see when they finally start taking their little steps on their own and I’m not helping them at all,” Banasiewicz said. “I look over and see their parents’ faces completely shocked and I think that is pretty rewarding. When they start doing it on their own, even they get excited and they get happy to see that they learn something. I think it’s a really cool feeling to have.”

Banasiewicz, Gazzillo and other players are hoping to return to the IcePlex again next summer for the opportunity to influence more children and help grow the First Goal program and the sport of hockey in the local area.