Last month Finn, 16, attended a two-week high-performance ice hockey camp at Port Alberni, Vancouver Island.
Finn said the camp was held every year before the start of the ice hockey season and attracted about 200 players.
The first week he spent time with a group of under-18-year-olds learning skills and positional play, and the second week he was part of an older group of college-level players.
"The second week was definitely a big step up from the first week but helped [me] improve a lot."
He had seen the benefits of the camp since he had been back playing in his under-18 Dunedin Thunder team.
"I’m a lot quicker now."
He had also learned to play a more aggressive form of the game than was usually played in New Zealand, which was challenging at first.
"When I first came back I spent a lot of time in the penalty box."
Once he adjusted he was fine.
However, it was good to have the experience of playing a different style of hockey, he said.
He has been playing ice hockey for five years.
He travelled twice a week to Dunedin to practise and play a game.
He was hoping to finish his NCEA level three studies and then return to Canada next September to attend a final year of school and play in the West Coast Hockey League.
He was open to the possibility of playing professional ice hockey.
"I’d like to go as far as I can."
In the meantime he hoped to be selected for the New Zealand under-18 team which would take part in the world championships in Turkey next year.
He was grateful to his grandparents, Dorothy and Russell Hellyer, who drove him to Dunedin and his mother, Trudy, and stepfather, Ringa Paewai, who provided the financial backing for him to follow his dreams.
