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.

Windy in Weyburn

Gusting winds overturned tractor trailers, along the highway heading south to Weyburn as Saskatchewan was hit by gale force winds on Friday and Saturday. Saskatchewan is victim to some crazy weather without a doubt, but lucky enough we arrived safely in Weyburn for the Red wings junior A rookie camp. With approx 120 players arriving from as far away as Texas, Omaha and Minnesota and ranging in age from 14 years old to 19 it was a very good camp. I talked to one grandparent who had driven from Minny all of 12 hours to attend and have his grandson skate in front of the Red wings staff for a chance to attend main camp in the fall. The Red wings were a first place team in the Saskatchewan junior A league last year and are traditionally one of the stronger teams in the loop. The town of Weyburn is a smaller version of a swift current minus the casino, clean, friendly and is located on the highway to the U.S border. One things I really like about small towns are you are 5 minutes from anywhere you may need to go, and there is virtually no traffic though boredom can lead to having one to many pops.

After the first skate of the day, I was informed in the afternoon from the asst coach that they had listed Sam on their 50 man protected list and was now property of the the club as a 15 year old, a bit of a pleasant surprise for us. In the Saskatchewan junior A league, when a player is protected it means that they can no longer skate with any other Junior A, excluding the WHL, team in the province, this protected list includes present players on the team and their top prospects. But bare in mind that one can be deleted as quickly by one phone call as added albeit normally they hang on to the younger prospects hoping they will develop into Red wing players in time with maturity. Junior hockey is a business at the end of the day and players are just pieces in the puzzle and can be interchanged or sold on at any time.

I was impressed by the way they handled the camp, on the Sunday they had a top prospect game with the older players and listed guys and a younger rookie game. The top prospect game which Sam skated in was full of junior B players and older players trying to get invites to main camp in the fall...fast, physical and tight checking, so great experience for a younger player. Stayed tuned for a trip to Winkler, Manitoba next week for a skate with the Flyers.

Rowdies in Weyburn

Okay, now we definitely are doing the weekend hockey warrior thing...but I can't say that it isn't interesting. This weekend it's Weyburn and home of the red wings, Royal Bank cup champs in the near past and a great junior franchise. Sam will be attending their junior camp, and according to Rowdy's sources, the redwings are in rebuilding mode after a disappointing first round loss to the Yorkton Terriers.

Weyburn is approx 1.5 hours down the road south of Regina and is a fairly affluent community due to farming and oil. Stayed tuned with some photos and stories from another hockey road trip with rowdy and not so little rammer.

Swiftly Rowdy

Swift Current, well lets see the living sky Casino was nice! Kidding aside, it's a small town of say about 20,000 people, clean, friendly and Joe Sakic's old WHL team the broncos are located here. Sam and me were in town on a invite for the the Major Midget AAA Swift Current Legionaries tryouts, a team that plays in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA hockey league. This league is widely regarded as the top Midget AAA league in Canada, so a great league for exposure and development. Hockey wise to cut straight to the heart of the matter, Sam had a good skate and was asked to sign at the end of the last scrimmage, the coaches were very positive. A little more in regards to these camps. These teams hold spring camps, and sign a few players they want on the team for next season combined with the returning veterans. They then hold a limited fall camp where the remaining invited unsigned players fight for jobs so it's a competitive dog fight. Patrick Marleau, Bryan Trottier played midget hockey for the legionaries, who share the same rink and work out facilities with the Broncos.

The sun does really shine more on the prairies and create a big sky affect that I will take any time over rain and cloud. Definitely have to commend Sam's maternal grandparents and Aunt for driving from Surrey B.C for 2 days, basically almost half way across Canada to watch a weekend of hockey. One last thought on Swift Current, is that it reminded me of small american town where life revolves around playing fields, ice rinks and the fast food restaurants, albeit it's a real hockeytown with friendly people.

Home of the Bronco's

Looking forward to our trip to swift current today, as the sun is shining as we take an approx 2.5 hour drive from Regina to Swift. Josh and Brad Zimbulak are coming as well, Josh was one of the goalies on Sam's team this year. The camp starts tonight with a meet and greet at 5pm and then with the ice sessions starting afterwards. Sam's grandparents and aunt have made a huge drive to watch the camp from Surrey, commend them for the support! These camps can be a bit of a cluster feke, you need to do something every shift, but for a young player the experience is invaluable though the cost of hotels and travel do stretch the parental finances. Hotel wise, no beauties like the one in Melville this time, we are going top shelf with a Holiday inn. Hey, stay tuned for photo's and stories from Swift Current, Sask.

The Melville experience

Well without spending one night in the classic motel in Melville which was a real beauty by all appearances we bailed and moved to the only other available motel. Melville is really old small town with not a lot going on, basically a prairie hockey town in all regards. The coaching staff and people around the millionaires were a class act as were the people we came across during the weekend. They had players from Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, northern Manitoba and of course all over Saskatchewan..Sam had as line mates two native players who he became friends with through the camp, both big and tough and skilled with their war clubs(plenty of native players at the camp). Plenty of good players, the 92 age group being last year Midgets especially feeling the pressure to break into junior hockey,can be a scary thought about whether it's going to be adult safe hockey or junior for the upcoming season. On a personal note, the coaching staff was very complimentary about Sam's camp and felt he did very well. I have attached a few photos to share with interested parties and we really enjoyed the experiences in Melville.

Melville shall be an interesting experience, small towns like this have some of the friendliest people and at the same time also some of the most backward people in very close proximity .. Having worked on the railway when I was younger in some of the smaller towns throughout Northern BC, I experienced different situations some nice and some ugly. The millionaires rookie camp will be a good experience, as long as it doesn't turn into a big fight fest. Some camps have a no fight rule, but not here in the prairies. So it's a good idea to keep your head up and play smart, and if you gotta go then you gotta answer the bell. Lets face it! These camps are a fund raiser for junior hockey teams without a doubt but also serve the purpose of identification of good players and prospective junior players. The goal for a player is to make an impact and get kudos, if your a fifteen year old kid like Sam then the goal is to be noticed doing something on every shift. Stay tuned for photos and a story from hockey historic Melville when rowdy returns from the a journey into the mists of time..

The Bantam Sask first program that me and Sam attended as spectators today had more WHL scouts than I have ever seen in one rink at a time...even ran into the Portland winter hawk's scout from Vancouver, who being an a gringo hockey player, aka like rowdy, was very surprised to see yours truly in this part of the world. Watched the number one ranked prospect today, Alex Forsburg who has a cannon for a shot, and great hockey sense combined with a big body. Talking with a few scouts they have him number one, my only question mark is his skating and it isn't at the level I expected. A little slow footed, and lacking knee bend but he gets it done at this level...though at the next level who can say. Forsburg's team had a little guy who reminded me of my Bro, played like a little roller ball hammering guys at every chance. Man, I must admit that I admired his heart and tenacity which he used to make an impact on every shift...if you can't get it done offensively, then get it done by being a physical force. Old school philosophy, and there's nothing like the old school which a buddy of mine is the headmaster of. Stay tuned next week for a update from the Melville millionaires camp, storied history of a old junior A franchise.

White city was the location for the end of our Midget A, tier one, hockey season this year, as Balgonie knocked us out in the final of the best of three, score 5-1 as we self destructed with some bad penalties from the usual suspects. Looking back on the year, the boys were a good bunch, many characters, and Sam made a lot of new friends and had some solid growth experiences. Team Bus trips on the flat lands to such wintry hockey towns such as Estevan, Weyburn, Yorkton, Swift Current and Moose jaw to a name a few were a real eye opener to hockey on the prairies. The boys had an array of interesting hair styles for the playoffs, ranging from skin heads, to white and green Mohawks (team colors). Next weekend we will be in Melville for the entire weekend, lets see what rowdy can get up to in a town the size of Melville. Stay tuned for the next chapter of rowdy and junior's prairie hockey adventure.

Well a few thoughts on Regina in general. J.Eberle is untouchable here, almost to the extreme, though the Pats are a mismanaged club with the same owners and gm for the last 15 years and nothing much to show for their time in charge. The natives are restless here and hate snow because it is white and on their property, people smoke( seems cancer education isn't working) way more than back in BC and obesity is rampant with many fast food outlets and therefore bad diets. It seems more like an american city in some regards, all kids either play hockey or football or both and a good thing is that people in Sask are sports fanatics. Football is without a doubt number one in Regina though and even in the off season many people don't wear anything but rider green, the question is do they wash it or have an entire closet for of green rider gear..Scenery wise, it doesn't compare with White Rock but thats a tough comparison for most places...big game in White city tomorrow vs Balgonie...

well the hockey season is wrapping up...my general observations on hockey in Saskatchewan are and rowdy is starting a blog to share some of our experiences out here in the flat lands

1 Hockey is much better run then in the lower mainland, games at the midget A level come with a pre game on ice warm up, full 20 minute periods with ice cleans and every small place in the province has an ice rink. Kids here are generally hard working with great attitudes, great to coach.

2 Though the general game may be more of a skilled game in B.C, they play hockey here with more of an edge, gritter and in a more Canadian style. One game we had 5 fights in a period, and all the players could play without suspension the next game. Game suspensions only happen in the last 10 minutes of a game, if you fight you gotta sit the next one..reminds me of playing in the old Junior A loop in Northern BC, playing against the Williams lake mustangs and trash talking with a tough looking kid on the other team, both of us looked up at the clock and on a personal note thankfully less than 10 mins in the third...that particular mustang was Craig Berube and looking back im glad that was one fight that didn't happen. Sam's team plays Balgonie in the deciding game of a best of three in White city on Saturday.