ND Hounds vs Swift Current Legionnaires

Had the pleasure now of being out to the hounds hockey shrine out in the middle of nowhere a few times now and have formed a few opinions of the place. The school is built around a winning tradition without a doubt, but also it's all about winning. The AAA players are the main guys on the campus and get the benefits of such, well the others are a mixture of turn key kids and good players but secondary non the less. Those other student/Athletes are the ones that fund the facility and if your a high end guy it's a great place but if your not I'm not so sure. If your a bit of a late bloomer or is still a little immature, it's by no means a good fit for you. Last year they had 21 goalie's tryout and room for only 14 in Midget hockey, so after they tried to farm a few out to other places, they had a number that didn't were no more than practice players through the year. Now that's gotta be tough coming from somewhere far away with dreams and hopes, and where at the very least you could have played at the AA level and be at home, that is pretty big reality check at a young age about how mercenary the hockey world can be.

Anyways you can figure it for yourself the program and form your own thoughts. Now last night's game, the ND student crowd attending were pretty loud and proud, rude about the behavior but that's pretty entertaining at times. Now the Legionnaires have been on the ice every day, prior to ice which includes a hard dry land so they get incredible amount of ice time and training being the secondary team in town to the bronc's. Regan Darby the head coach, pushes they hard and expects hard work in return. No question after watching last night's game ND Hounds will be one be one of the teams to beat this year, as always, but it was disappointing they needed some iffy calls in the third to bring them back in the game and it helped to have the ref's playing along. The Hounds are now getting down to their final team and have some real big boys especially on the back end and good speed up front, the game was fast and rough but with only one fight last night so not out of control. The Legion had a 4-2 lead going into the last 8 minutes and it looked good until the ref's brought out the golden whistle and the hounds tied it up on the ensuing power plays. The Legionnaires first line is made up of all returning 17 olds veterans, Laird, Froese, and Reinboldt, and they are all skilled, experienced guys. I would have to say on watching the last couple of games that the legion will be a top 6 club in a always strong AAA league this year. The Legion had Zac Mckay(fighting suspension), Mathew Bohua (injury), and Travis orr(injury) missing from the line up last night and all those guys are contributing players.

On a personal note, Sam( rookie) got the first legion goal on a juicy rebound off a Mathew Audette's shot. Sam's always been a dirty area goal scorer, so I'm hoping he stays good and dirty through the year. Next up, a return match with the hounds on Sunday at home.

few interesting stories to pass on about the players and the camp for you blog readers. Firstly, the Cowie twins(best penalty killers in the league) who have played for the red wings for the last three years missed the start of the camp due to having to bring the crops in on the farm. Farming commitments came first, and it has been a rough year for the farmers in Saskatchewan due to the weather. Those twins are no question of double value to both team and their parent's farms. Now the wings have a second set of brothers with an even more interesting story. The Adam's brothers, originally from Russia by way of Nashville, Tenn and have been playing for the Red wings for a couple of years. I got it from an excellent source who has his finger on the pulse, the skate guy, that these boys father was in the Russian Mafia and the mom left him and took the boys to the U.S.A...now this guy doesn't come across as the type to lay a pipeline of B.S.

The Red wings have a small army of loyal support staff, older retired gentleman and even some handicapped people around the club...which shows they are fully enmeshed in the local community and they take pride in wearing the colors. Now the camp started on Friday with 4 teams, they started chopping the numbers down on Saturday nite and by Sunday had 2 teams left...tough camp as they had two 2 hour sessions per day finishing up with the all star game on Monday. We were bunked out at the fantastic circle 6 motel a couple of blocks away from crescent pointe arena..living in style :) Weyburn really doesn't have many quality places to eat out at, the regular fast food joints mind you we did find a nice italian place after testing the greasy waters. The town is a friendly place, lots of trucks and roughnecks and signs of money from the oil industries located in the area.

The coaches and scouts keep everything close to cuff, the fact Sam made it to the all star game on Monday at his age was a strong indicator of how well he did. Quite a few fights, and lots of hitting through out the camp and as the average age at the camp was 19 some very big guys out there. Sam was run over a few times but as I have always mentioned, you have to show that you can bounce back and not let that affect you. He had a good camp and as it was a grind I was impressed with his work. Stay tuned as the Legionnaires are hosting the Edge Academy from Calgary this weekend in a weekend 3 game set. The Edge Academy prep team will be a good test for the legion.

Rowdy in Windyburn!

Now the reason I call it Windyburn(Weyburn) is that every time I visit is that it's an incredibly windy place. I am starting the blog again for the upcoming winter hockey season. Sam is playing for the Swift Current legionnaires in the SMAAAL, which according to many is the best AAA midget loop in the country. He's gonna have work hard and listen to his coach, that's my advice every year and I'm gonna try to limit the advice as it's his deal as he's growing up fast. I prefer to sit and watch, and do a bit of socializing now and again, as I am at heart a guy that really enjoys watching the game.

This weekend we are on our way to Windy Weyburn for main junior A camp with the redwings as Sam is a list player with them, should be a great experience and he's hoping to make a push to play some exhibition games this year as a 16 year old...not easy in the Saskatchewan junior A loop as only one 16 played in the entire league last year, a back up goalie in Melville, the league is made up of predominately 18 to 20 year old players. Well a young player should go peddle to the medal and give it a shot, after all it will be one helluva an experience either way. I am writing this knowing some of our friends and family out on the sunny west coast have asked for a return of the blog, and I hope offer some light entertainment and information of the different places we visit, such places like Notre Dame, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Beardy's, Tisdale and so on...good teams in small places. The Legionnaires have been practicing every day this week, and Regan Darby(Head Coach) has been skating them hard to prepare( I'm all for the bag skating :)

Now Weyburn is first on the list and an interesting hockey town without a doubt, the coach has been there for 30 years and has a 1100 career win record in junior A hockey, the team is celebrating it's 50 year's of junior hockey. Dwight, the head coach, comes with the rep of being old school and a bit gruff, hard to question his record and I personally enjoy a bit of old school if you have the player's respect and it brings results. Now I have included a few shots of the Legionnaire's dressing room, fantastic arrangement, full set up with exercise bikes, washer, dryer and rehab area. The recent Legionnaire's main camp had 80 players trying out, so it wasn't a given for anyone, other than some of the Vets, to show up expecting to be given a spot, they had to earn it. Unlike BC hockey, in Saskatchewan no midget aged players play junior B, as Midget hockey here is a big deal...Anways stay tuned for pictures and stories from Windyburn after the weekend and all the best!

The Hockey Saga returns.

Hi everyone and now it's almost hockey season again so I am starting my blog again to give a viewpoint of hockey in the prairies. Remember this blog is based on my opinions and experiences travelling to different hockey towns in Saskatchewan. I will keep a diary of pictures and stories relating to those experiences. This season we are based in Swift Current, where Sam is playing for the Swift Current Legionnaires, the team plays in the SMAAAL which is considered the top Midget hockey league in Canada...teams in the league are the defending Telus Cup Champs Notre Dame Hounds, Saskatoon Contacts, Prince Albert Mintos, Tisdale Trojans and Regina Pat Canadians to name some of the teams in the 12 team loop. Swift Current is a town of approx 16,000 set in a hilly region in South East Saskatchewan, more cattle and oil country than wheat. The town is clean, quiet and has a large population of Mennonites in the region. The Rowdies are located in a nice 3 bedroom apt, within walking distance to the Casino and also close to the High School and Iplex Ice rink. Hey and the golf course is a couple blocks away also, so life is pretty rosy at this particular time. Stay tuned for more posts down the road accompanied by photos.

Fargo, ND

The weather here in the prairies right now is awesome, 25 degrees today and expecting even warmer weather through the week, no complaints for sure.

Sam is playing Lacrosse right now and also playing 3v3 in a league that is highly competitive,as a spectator I am enjoying watching guys like Brent Benson, Ryan Murray and other western hockey league players compete in a league with players from Notre Dame's National Telus cup champs and other junior and Midget AAA players playing. One more hockey trip unexpectedly looms on the horizon for us in the month of June. Sam has been invited to play on a hockey team called the Sask ice hawks for a tournament in Fargo, North Dakota. The Tournament is the North American Pepsi cup and it should be an interesting trip into some new country and I hear the scenery is fantastic in this region. Having done a fair bit of travel over the last couple of months, we are definitely veterans of the long car trips.

I think the greatest experience is being to travel to this places and get a look at the surrounding and local culture of these places. I will publish a blog and photos upon coming back from Fargo in early June, so stay tuned.

Winkler, Manitoba

Driving through Southern Manitoba and Brandon, portage la prairie, one of the first things we noticed was the great soil for farming, and large houses on huge properties with plenty of toys. Winkler, itself is a very clean, modern community with a large Mennonite population that has English and low German as spoken languages. Reminded me of the old days as a kid when nothing opened on Sundays, Winkler is old school in that regards and shops are closed on Sundays but you see families out walking and biking together.

Now, a number of very good hockey players come from Winkler, Dustin Penner(Edmonton Oilers), Eddie Belfour(the Eagle)and Eric Fehr(Washington Capitals) to name a few of the more notable ones. One of the reasons we decided upon going to Winkler was,on the advice of a good friend, word has it that the GM(Ernie Sutherland) has a great rep with kids and being a straight shooter. Now as anyone who has experienced hockey at the junior level knows you have to be careful and sort through all the B.S to get to the truth(maybe a little like life!) Hockey wise, plenty of players and some real good younger ones attended this camp. As this was Sam's last camp, he put in some real good hard work and his attitude was great!

We did one heck of a lot of driving over the past 4 weeks attending 4 different camps but the sight seeing, incorporated with the hockey was and will be a great memory along with visiting a number of small old school hockey towns and meeting some great people. The valuable experiences gained and doors opened along the way were an additional bonus. The Hockey road show is over for the season and all the best to everyone who took time to read the blog, have a great summer.

Happy days in Winkler

First I like to mention the reasons why I have created this blog. The blog is for friends and family to be updated in regards to Sam and our different experiences with hockey, and small towns in the prairies. It's sort of a moving diary and the internet is a wonderful tool for sharing experiences and communications with others. If at any time I come across as more than a slap happy parent, then I offer my apologies.

This weekend we are heading out of province to Winkler, Manitoba. Funny name isn't Winkler and it reminds me of the show happy days and the Fonz! Anyways its a bit of drive, roughly 5 hours and is located in the Southern part of Manitoba. Though Sam's camp experiences have been good, Winkler comes highly recommended as a hockey destination. The General Manager of the Flyers has 30 years experience and has a great reputation as a solid guy. Sam can have a look at the MJ (Manitoba Junior A league nickname) and the flyers and MJ can have a look at him. Going somewhere, working hard and experiencing the hockey, and meeting new people are a growth industry for a young guy. What is the cliche, "experiences make you richer" is one that I proscribe too. Stay tuned for photos and stories from Henry Winkler.