Clubhouse

Boni blasts the ‘biscuit toward the basket’

There’s no skating around this fact: Hockey is the official winter sport of Canada. It seems fitting, then, that the Kiwanis Club of Saanich, British Columbia, would spend the fruits of its fundraising labor on a machine to help burgeoning hockey talent.

Kiwanis members introduce Boni—complete with Kiwanis’ logo—to hockey players at the Pearkes Recreation Centre.

The machine, called a Boni, shoots hockey pucks at varying speeds and angles to simulate the many shots of actual play; it will even shoot a puck up to 100 miles an hour to mimic a player in the National Hockey League (NHL). Of course, it also can be dialed down to a more kid-friendly five miles an hour. It’s a tool to train goalkeepers of all skill levels to keep the “biscuit out of the basket” (puck out of the goal).

Hockey players using the Pearkes Recreation Centre, and all the players of Saanich Minor League Hockey, will have the opportunity to use it—and it is a great way to practice.

The Boni, which costs about CAD$6,000, was a gift to Saanich in recognition of the town’s centennial.

“We wanted to do something special for the Saanich 100th birthday,” club secretary Uwe Bartley explains. “Who knows? We might be helping the next big NHL goalie.”