Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 102

PROFILE
Kruz
L i s t m ay e r
B y S c o t t Tay l o r
Photos by James Carey Lauder and Eoin Devereux/Neepawa Banner
A
rare
fifth
Kruz Listmayer about
to play fifth season
in Neepawa
1 0 2 | G AM E O N | SE P T EM BER 2 0 1 7
Kruz Listmayer is an
imposing figure. He’s a 6-foot-
3, 205-pound defenseman for
the Manitoba Junior Hockey
League’s Neepawa Natives and
a guy who had 113 penalty
minutes in 2014-15 and then
nobody messed with him
anymore. Listmayer played
his first game in Neepawa
during the 2013-14 season
and this year, as a 20-year-old,
will play his fifth season in
the league. Not many do that,
but when you consider that
he’s the nephew of former
NHL heavyweight champion
Colton Orr, you know there is
certainly no quit in him.
Neepawa Natives head
coach Dustin Howden has
a lot of time for 20-year-old
Kruz Listmayer, a 6-foot-3,
205-pound defenseman who is
about to play his fifth season in
the home of Margaret Laurence.
“He’s a great kid,” said
Howden enthusiastically. “He
came to us as an AP at 16 and
then earned a full-time spot
at 17. He’s steadily matured
on and off the ice. In fact, I’m
really pleased with the way he’s
matured over the years with us.
He was a young kid when he
came to us. Now he’s an adult, a
leader and a big part of a team
that has been slowly getting
better every year. I’ve had a
great relationship with Kruz.”
Last season, under Howden’s
guidance, the Neepawa Natives