Game On Magazine 2017 December 2017 | Page 30

PROFILE ELI B AT T B Y J O H N P L O S Z AY Photos by James Carey Lauder BATT ER UP ELI (BATTER) BATT can play. After all, he’s a fifth-year defenseman with the Raiders Jr. Hockey Club, a league champion and one of the veteran standouts in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League. Eli would prefer that his nickname be “Batman,” but that name was already taken by his father, Dennis Batt so it would appear that until his father relinquishes the name, Eli will have to stick with Batter. It could be worse, one supposes. For the those who know them, the Batt family is North End proud. Both of Eli’s parents are Phys Ed teachers in the Winnipeg 1 School Division and the family has lived near the Inkster Industrial Park for years. Eli attended Juniior High at Sisler and eventually graduated 3 0 | G AME O N | D EC EM BER 2017 from Garden City Collegiate. He recently completed his training to become a fire fighter and has his Levels 1 and 2 and Hazmat certificate. Over the past four years he’s worked in Saskatchewan building decks and has been employed with Bayview Construction and the City of Winnipeg doing concrete work. Eli started playing hockey at age three and his dad coached him right through Peewee at Northwood Community Centre. He played in the Stars and Hawks programs and back in 2012, he was a late cut of the Provincial Triple A Midget Winnipeg Thrashers so he joined the Interlake Lightning in order to continue playing hockey. In 2012-13, he had a solid season, playing 44 games for Interlake, and that got him a shot with the Raiders as a 17-year-old in 2013. He’s now in his fifth full season in the MMJHL and he counts last year’s Jack McKenzie Trophy win as the greatest moment in his hockey career. “I also had a great experience in Bantam playing on a team with Adam Brooks, Dane Schioler and Chase Harrison,” he recalled. “We almost won it all. After winning the City and Provincials we lost in overtime at the Western Canadians against the Burnaby Winter Club led by current NHL rookie scoring sensation Matt Barzal. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. The ref called us for tripping in overtime and a shot from the point went bar down on us. It was devastating. It sucked so much.” Still, Eli Batt has persevered and to this day, he credits his dad and former coach Neil Chow with instilling in him,