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Penticton  

The Penticton Vees are in need of more billet families to offer up a bed for their players

Hockey players need homes

The Penticton Vees are in need of a few more billet families for members of the team coming in for the 2020-21 season. 

Kate Trahan is the billet coordinator for the Penticton Vees, and she's seen first hand how much these families connect with the players.  

“They become family, you’re excited when they arrive back into town … They become a part of your whole life," Trahan said. 

“We’ve gained a lot of laughs, a lot of fun, just even having that level of energy in the house.”

The program looks for host families that can offer a bed and are wanting to take in a player.

Trahan says the family also benefits from the experience, noting that many of these players are role models for younger children in the house. 

“A lot of them have scholarships, so there’s the drive to not just play hockey, but get an education,” Trahan said. 

Patrick Sexton, former Vees player and current assistant coach had a great experience as a player staying with his billet family, and it still resonates with him today. 

“My billets were the big reason my experience in Penticton was amazing as it was," he said. 

While the team usually has enough beds, there’s extra players coming this year that still need homes. 

“For a lot of our kids it's their first time moving away from home,” Sexton said. “Having a house that you can go back to where you have billet parents, siblings, that are there that really do make it a home.” 

The players come in from all across Canada and a few are from the United States. 

While some may have concerns over out-of-country players coming in during the COVID-19 pandemic, the team is ensuring proper protocols are in place.

“We’re taking every precaution we can to ensure both the health and safety of our players but as well our billets,” Sexton said. 

“We have our whole protocol in place, both for what the Canadian government is saying, the B.C. provincial government, as well as locally and what our team and league is doing as a whole.

“The billet families, they really are the glue that holds junior hockey together, because without billets you don’t have anywhere for your players to stay, you can’t have a team that way.”

For more information on how to become a billet, contact coach Patrick Sexton at [email protected] or coordinator KateTrahan at [email protected].



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