Game On Magazine - April 2017 GameOn-Apr2017-P001-144-ONLINE | Page 5

OMG’s PLAYER OF THE MONTH
The Wild’s
Cedric
Chenier
PLAYER OF THE MONTH
By Scott Taylor
Photos by Jeff Miller
W
innipeg Wild goal-scoring sensation Cedric Chenier
is keeping his options open.
And why not? There will, no doubt, be many op-
portunities during the next few years for the 17-year-old (he turned
17 on Feb. 5) who won the Manitoba Triple A Midget Hockey League
scoring championship this season.
Chenier, a 6-foot, 175-pound right-handed shooting forward, fin-
ished the 2016-17 regular season with 30 goals and 65 points in 43
games to win the title. And it’s a hard-earned award that
he doesn’t take lightly.
“It’s a really big honor to be the scoring cham-
pion,” he said. “It was a really big leap for me
this year, coming up from City Midget to Pro-
vincial Midget. It’s a lot faster and I was playing
against a lot bigger guys. I have great linemates
and as a result, it was a great season for me.”
Indeed it was. And as a result of his scoring title, the fact
he was named to the league’s second all-star team and the fact he
got off to a great start in the playoffs, Chenier has been named the
OMG Player of the Month for March 2017.
Chenier, who started playing hockey with the Richmond Kings in
South Winnipeg when he was five, has emerged as one of the top
midget players in Manitoba. He played all his minor hockey with the
Kings, then played for the Twins and moved up to the Monarchs. At
14, he was drafted by the MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues and by the WHL’s
Spokane Chiefs (ninth round 185th overall in 2015). Last year, he
played City Midget for the Monarchs and this year, he made the
Wild.
“This is one of the best teams I’ve ever played on,” he said.
“We’re four lines deep, we have great leadership and our veterans
have been great. Our goaltending has been solid all the
way through, as well.”
A Grade 11 student at College
Jeanne Sauve, he makes it a point
to get good marks.
“I’m in the high 80s,” he said. “I aim
high in school. I want to do well.”
As he should. After all, he has an opportuni-
ty now to choose between the Western Hockey League or
NCAA Division 1 hockey.
“I’m open to anything now,” he said. “I haven’t
signed anything with the WHL yet and I obvi-
ously haven’t played a game in the WHL, so
U.S. college is still an option for me. I haven’t
talked to any U.S. Colleges yet, but Coach (Paul
Krueger) says he’s talked to a couple of college
scouts. If any kind of offer comes, I’ll consider it. I’m
just excited to see what the next chapter brings for me.”
Cedric credits his dad, Patrick, and his mom, Nicole, for his
growth as a person and a hockey player. In fact, he calls his dad,
“the most influential person in his hockey career.”
“He’s the person who has managed me – where I’m working out
or where I’m playing,” Chenier said “He’s been really watching my
progress the whole way through. He’s easily the most influential
person for me when iot comes to hockey.”
And when it comes to hockey, Cedric Chenier has done
quite well. n
Larry Finnson and OMG Candy of Winnipeg are outstanding supporters of amateur hockey
throughout our province. Game On Magazine is proud to partner with OMG to select the
Manitoba Player of the Month. Our Player of the Month will appear in every issue of Game
On, Manitoba’s Hockey Magazine, in 2017.
2017 PLAYOFF EDITION
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