August 27, 2025

MUSKOKA BECOMING SUMMER PRO HOCKEY TRAINING GROUND FOR NHL STARS — AND FANS LOVE IT

BRACEBRIDGE — Artur Cholach was looking forward to seeing Mitch Marner Monday at Muskoka Hockey’s pro skate public practice and scrimmage.

As were 400 fans of the departed Maple Leaf who had to miss the annual public scrimmage as he prepared for this week’s Team Canada Olympic training camp.

Cholach will have to wait till possibly next month when the Las Vegas Knights hold their NHL training camp.

Henderson is a Vegas Silver Knight defenceman. So unless the farm hand gets a call-up this season, he’s unlikely to soon meet the Torontonian.

Muskokans have a better chance of running into Marner at his cottage here.

**Mayor Rick Maloney thanked the players for making Bracebridge Muskoka’s new summer hockey hometown. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com**

“No, never seen him in my life,” Cholach said as he came off the ice after a spirited hour-long practice and 20-minute scrimmage.

“He’s going to light it up,” said the 22-year-old from Lviv, Ukraine, who still has family involved in defending his country back home.

Cholach has re-signed a one-year AHL contract with the Knights, who lost out in the second round of the 2024-25 playoffs.

“Not bad for a first-year pro,” he said with a friendly smile.

**Artur Cholach greets eager fans and autograph seekers after the scrimmage.**

Cholach was one of a couple dozen pro and semi-pro players living, training or skating in Muskoka this summer who have been working out at the Bracebridge arena.

Muskoka Hockey owner and former NHLer Sam Gagner, 36, has been inviting old friends and former players for the annual August public skate as his hockey school ends its fourth year of minor hockey league practices for local kids and summer residents.

Each year a different group of Gagner’s friends and former NHL team mates turn out as Muskoka has become a popular pro training centre. Muskoka Hockey assistant coach Brady Leavold led the drills.

**NHL pro and semi-pro players took the ice for the second time this month in Bracebridge, which is the new heart of NHL training in Muskoka. PHOTO ALex Hogg MuskokaTODAY.com**

Monday, the list of stars included NHL No. 1 draft pick Taylor Hall, who was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 2010. Last season Hall was with Chicago before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for this season.

And current Columbus Blue Jackets giant Erik Gudbranson, a 14-year veteran NHLer; Dylan Cozens a star with the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators (2024-25); and Isaak Phillips, a top defensive prospect for the Winnipeg Jets were also skating hard.

Along with many minor-league players who are either signed to NHL teams or looking for permanence with them this season. All were impressing the crowd of young and old fans eager to see the stars on ice.

“It’s good a way to end the summer,” Phillips said with a smile.

**Isaak Phillips, a “depth defenceman” with the Winnipeg Jets is looking to make the roster of one of the top teams next month.**

“Everyone around the league is scrimmaging with their summer groups. We all do small ice things. But it’s good toward the end of the summer to do full ice — down and back. And get our conditioning up.

“With three weeks to go you’re starting to sharpen up and play harder defence. Obviously no one’s looking to injure anybody before they go to their camp. It’s important to do the reps like this.

“It’s better to skate three times a week. And go an hour and 10 minutes hard, than skate five times and go 60 per cent. That’s what I think. If I’m gonna go out there I’m gonna get better.

“I’m a depth defenceman now with the Jets,” said Phillips. “So I’m looking to go to my first camp there and hopefully earn a spot — or be a first call-up if there’s an injury. Everyone’s in their own spot going in to camp.”

After being traded from Chicago, where last season he was up and down with the Blackhawks on a two-contract, Phillips says he will “probably start in the minors with the Manitoba Moose. But they have a good group and have a nice facility. So I’m happy to be there and prove myself.

“I’m feeling good and training hard.”

**Players practised drills for an hour before a 20-minute scrimmage. PHOTO Alex Hogg MuskokaTODAY.com**

At a busy autograph session after upstairs the Muskoka Lumber Centre, Cozens said “it’s fun to practice in front of all the kids and this gets better every year.”

Monday’s Muskoka practice was “obviously different than practices in the season.”

“I’m super excited for a full season (ahead) with my new my new (Senators) team and to get to know the guys better. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Cozens scored 47 points last season with Buffalo and Ottawa.

**Columbus Blue Jacket Erik Gudbranson, who summers in Port Carling, looks to a quick start this season after being out with a shoulder injury 66 games last season after the first game in October.**

Sitting beside him, Gudbranson added: “You’re always undertaking to getting better during the summer. It’s not the coach’s responsibility to get you prepared for the season. It’s yours. Obviously they’ve got their job as well, but you’re trying to get better and trying to get healthier and start the season.

“I’m here (in Port Carling) all summer. This is where I skate and where I train. It’s a great spot. I’ve been all over. I started in Ottawa, then I stayed in Vancouver for a summer. I’ve stayed a summer in Florida.

“So we’ve live here for eight years now and I’ve been training here for about five of those. I’ll go down to the city to top up. But there’s programs here, so you don’t really need to go down there,” he said as his wife and two kids watched and cheered on “Daddy.”

**Zoey Gudbranson celebrated her third birthday while she and mom Sarah watched “Daddy” Erik practise Monday morning.**

“Just preparing for an NHL season, that comes with a lot of different things each year. Every year is unique,” said Gudbranson, an Ottawa native who played 78 games two seasons ago but only 16 last season. The 33-year-old missed 66 contests of the 2024-25 season after suffering a shoulder injury in the home opener vs. Florida October 15 and undergoing surgery October 21. He returned March 24.

“Hockey’s hockey. There are very tiny little variations,” he said after practice. “But at the end of the day hockey is hockey. So just trying to do what you do best.”

As for the Blue Jackets, “nope, not much new. Couple changes. But we’re good. Same coaching staff for the most part and all the same players. Pretty much the same team coming back.

“I think we’re gonna be good. We need a better start than last year. We missed the playoffs by one point. So we desperately need to close some games out and get ahead of the game.”

‘Game in great shape’

Gagner, who played 17 seasons with seven teams, including Edmonton where he was drafted and returned twice to including finally in 2023 before retiring, didn’t look too out of place on the ice with some much younger players.

**Sam Gagner, 36, says “puck control is golden,” as he shows younger players he still has what it takes to scrimmage with them.**

He said “the game’s in great shape. In a great place and a lot of fun to be around.

“The next generation is super skilled, on the ice a ton of time and watching clips on You Tube and Tik Tok and emulating.”

Gagner says now that he’s coaching he sees life behind the bench evolving, too.

“Every year you pick up new philosophies.”

Those changes, he said, “are not as stark” year-over-year “as they used to be.”

“Look at international games/teams, they’re pretty similar.”

**Taylor Hall was all smiles as he was forced to the boards while trying to elude a defender. Players says the summer scrimmage helps sharpen their skills for the season ahead.**

One significant change has seen players passing the puck back to the defence if forward can’t see a play emerging when crossing centre ice.

“I’m always of the mind that puck control is golden. If you can, don’t give it up to the other team. So I think that can be taught at a young age.”

As for the size of players today: “Kids are bigger, stronger and faster and at 18 and 19 going in to the NHL. Sports science has come a long way and kids learn how to train at a younger age. They’re way more serious.”

Players chat with Darren Budd, of Edges Muskoka, who sharpens skates for a lot NHL players in Muskoka in the summer. Including friend Mitch Marner, who he says is “happy and excited” to be playing in Vegas this season.

However Gagner stresses minor hockey “should be about fun and building a passion for the game. That’s what we do here. As you age and get serious it’s time to dig in.

“I was able to have a long career because of how much I loved the game. I built that at a young age. You make it as fun as you can. At a young age you hope their passion for the game wins out.

“Ultimately if you’re going to have a successful NHL career, it’s on you the player to put in the hard work and grind through the hard times. You can’t do it if you don’t have a passion for the game.”

Four hundred excited fans young and old watched more exciting professional hockey at the Muskoka Lumber Centre, which has become the training centre of choice for many players off season now and living in Muskoka.

This was the second big pro skate for fans who got to see many of them and others at the first Hockey Night in Muskoka fundraiser Aug. 14, which raised $25,000 each for the Simcoe Muskoka United Way and South Muskoka Memorial Hospital Foundation.