Allstate Canada has teamed up with the National Hockey League Players Association to help groom hockey heroes of tomorrow. At a press event held on Monday at the MasterCard Centre in Etobicoke, Ontario – which is where the Toronto Maple Leafs train when they’re in town – the tandem, bolstered by the star power of Maple Leafs players including Colby Armstrong, Francois Beauchemin, Tim Brent, Colton Orr and Kris Versteeg launched the Allstate All-Canadians Mentorship program.

The first-of-its-kind initiative seeks to champion key community values to young, casual and competitive, Canadian hockey players on and off the ice. It will provide them, their coaches, and parents with access to exclusive on-ice drills and off-ice development tips coming straight from NHL players and other hockey industry experts by way of allstate.all-canadians.com.

At the grassroots level, Allstate’s more than 600-strong team of agents will deliver program resources straight to Canada’s minor hockey community, while at the elite level, the NHLPA will tag 40 of the best Bantam hockey players to take part in a four-day mentorship camp at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga in August, 2011. There they will be taught by NHL players and industry leaders about nutrition, strength and fitness, sports psychology, media training, leadership and community values.

‘Ultimately, this partnership with the NHLPA is a natural fit for Allstate Canada as it provided us with the opportunity to further enhance our already active role in local communities,’ says Jeff Burke, senior VP, Allstate Canada. ‘In addition, this program helps reinforce our commitment to helping develop the next generation of future leaders while also connecting us to the great sport of Canadian hockey.’

Allstate and the NHLPA are currently working on a game plan for a PR, with Optimum in board to execute, and grassroots marketing campaign that will tap into the players, parents and coached in Canada’s minor hockey system, as well as a mass media ad strategy to help the program score in Allstate’s key markets. The partnership was facilitated by Toronto-based High Performance Marketing, which worked with the NHLPA to build the concept, content and communications strategy for the program.