Game On Magazine 2017 Nov Game On low res | Page 104

HOW DID YOU
GET STARTED?
“When I was two, and there
is still a picture with me after
my parents put a hockey stick
in my hand, I started to play
around and I ran with it. At
three, I just started skating
and my mom and dad took me
to Timbits hockey. I started
at Tuxedo Community Centre
and went through the regular
route, A1, Double A and Triple
A tryouts, but I never made it.
When I was little, I was small
and round. I was a late bloomer.
I played Division C High School
Hockey. In Grade 10 and 11, I
played for St. James Collegiate.
In Grade 10, I played 25 games
and didn’t break 10 points. But
that summer I grew about four
inches and put on 50 pounds
and in Grade 11, I came back
and played 25 games and put
up 65 points.
“That’s when I sat down with
my mom and dad and realized
I might actually be able to play
junior or something like that.
So that’s when I started to
buckle down a little bit. I played
Provincial Triple A midget in
Grade 12 for Central Plains.
That was the first time I ever
made a Double A or Triple A
team. In Grade 12. I was cut
from the Wild and Central
Plains needed guys and I was
allowed to go and play there.
There were quite a few of us in
that situation. They were short
players and that’s how I made
Triple A. But it was a decent
year. A real step up for me.”
WOULD YOU CALL
THAT THE MOST
IMPORTANT YEAR OF
YOUR YOUNG CAREER?
“Yeah, I was a third liner, but
I played enough to get a shot
at Minot State University –
ACHA Division 1. It was a great
program. It was a different level
and it was a real adjustment. In
the end, it wasn’t the best fit for
me, but I had a lot of fun and I
learned a lot.
“I was really doing well on the
ice at Minot, but at Christmas
I got injured and was out for
the rest of the year. So I had
a chat at the end of the year
with my folks and we decided
I wouldn’t go back. Thought I’d
try my hand at junior hockey.
I was invited to training camp
in Seattle in the WHL and I
stuck around for two days, but
I still had NCAA eligibility and
it didn’t look like I was going
to stick in Seattle, so I decided
not to play an exhibition game
and we packed up and went
home. There wasn’t a chance I
was going to get an opening on
that team, but Winkler had my
rights in the MJHL so I thought
I’d give that a try.”
Enjoying Australia
with Team Canada’s
European-based
players
1 0 4 | G AM E ON | N OVEM BER 2017
YOU’VE HAD A LOT
OF UPS AND DOWNS,
BUT YOU ACCEPT THE
DOWNS WITH A SENSE
OF HUMOR. AFTER
YOU GOT BACK FROM
SEATTLE, I UNDERSTAND
THINGS GOT CRAZY.
TELL US THAT STORY.
“Yeah, it was crazy. The day
after I got back from Seattle, I
went to Winkler, played a few
exhibition games there and
thought I played well, but I got
traded to the Abitibi Eskimos
in the Northern Ontario Junior
Hockey League. That was inter-
esting. I was taking university
courses on-line and in 2010, I
couldn’t even get an Internet
connection there. Oh yeah,
and everyone spoke French,
but there were two of us who
couldn’t and every time we said
something in English to each
other the dressing room, we got
in trouble for it. I was there for
about a month. That place was
just wrong.”
AND THEN I SUPPOSE
YOU GOT YOUR BIG
BREAK. HOW IMPORTANT
WAS FINDING A HOME
IN THE KJHL?
“So on my way home from
Abitibi, I’m in the airport in
Toronto and I called one of my
good friends, Christian Mueller
and he said, ‘When do you get
back?’ I said, ‘Tonight.’ He said,
‘Do you want to come skate
with us tomorrow night?’ And I
said, ‘With the Fishermen?’ a