'They become part of your family': Charlottetown Islanders looking for billet families

The Charlottetown Islanders are on the lookout for a few good homes willing to take in players for the upcoming 2017-18 season.

Every year, the Islanders see a turnover of billet families, a vital yet often overlooked part of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey experience.

This year will be no different. 

"When you take a player in they become a part of your family, and they could be there the whole time they're playing with the Islanders," said Troy MacKenzie, the team's billet coordinator.

'Players who are arriving from everywhere'

"It could be three, could be four years, and as players leave and their junior career ends, the billet may decide he's going to take a break and step away for a couple of years, so we always have to fill them in."

As a host family, MacKenzie said billets families play a key role in the lives of young players pursuing their hockey dreams.

With the new season beginning, many players will be moving away from home for the first time. 

"We have players coming in anywhere from Finland, Russia, Quebec, all across Atlantic Canada, a couple from Ontario, so we've got players who are arriving from everywhere, so you've got different nationalities, different cultures."

'They're still kids'

"The billet family is probably the next most important thing on the team. We as billets have the players longer than the coaches do. We're involved with them probably more than the coaches are, so we're dealing with players who are highly-conditioned athletes, but they're still kids."

Families who are chosen to be billets go through a screening process including a home visit.

They must provide a family home environment, nutritional meals, and most of all, help the player cope with the ups and downs of junior hockey.

"Some players would like to be with a family with small kids so they have some buddies to play with. Other players might prefer to be in a little bit quieter environment… You've got food allergies, you've got animal allergies, players with cars, players without cars, so you're always trying to find a balance that's going to work for both the family and the player."

'Extended part of your family'

The support and encouragement given to each player, be it short term or long term MacKenzie said, can have a lasting impact on a player's life and experience while with the Islanders.

"There's life outside of hockey. There's school that they have to attend every day, there's normal growing up adolescence life, there's injuries involved, [that] they need someone to talk [to] about. They need someone to help them. There's having a bad day. It's becoming a parent to someone who's an extended part of your family."

Anyone interested in becoming a billet can contact the team at 902-892-7349.

The Islanders open training camp August 21 in Cornwall, P.E.I.

The puck will drop for the regular season at home Sept. 22 against the Moncton Wildcats.

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