As I got older he was always saying you’ re going to be better than me. That kind of pushed me to be as good as I could be
Anyone in this province who has even a passing familiarity with the game of hockey knows who Kevin Cheveldayoff is. The Winnipeg Jets G. M. has been one of the chief architects of the provincial capital’ s NHL franchise since its relocation from Atlanta and was a vital member of the Chicago Blackhawks’ brain trust prior to that. Another member of the Cheveldayoff family could soon be a household name with hockey fans, as well. Alexi Cheveldayoff, or Lexi as she’ s known to friends and teammates, is one of the top young female hockey prospects in Manitoba. The 5-foot-10 defenseman for the St. Mary’ s Flames is already regarded as one of the top high school players in the province thanks to her strong two-way play. More than a dozen Canadian and U. S. colleges scouted Cheveldayoff prior to her signing a letter of intent to join Bemidji State, a Division I school in Northern Minnesota, beginning in 2018-19. She was on the radar of scouts after attending a pair of USA Hockey development camps in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
While her high-profile pop never pushed the game on her, Cheveldayoff readily admits he has been a huge influence.“ He didn’ t ever push me or my brother, although he did put skates on us early. There’ s this picture of me walking around in our old house in Chicago with my first pair of hockey pants on and I looked so happy in them,” she says, laughing.
“ I practiced a lot over the summer on getting shots to the net and making sure I hit the net and trying to keep my shots low so the goalie can’ t see [ the puck ],” she said.“ I worked on my slapshot over the summer to make it harder and more accurate which is helping too.” In her third season as a member of the Flames prep team, Cheveldayoff has established herself as one of the team’ s leaders. Flames head coach Larry Bumstead says her desire to constantly improve her game has been a huge influence on many of her younger teammates.“ She’ s a player who wants to understand the game. She wants to strive to be better each and every time she steps on the ice,” he says.“ She wants to make sure she’ s doing things correctly and she’ s always asking lots of questions. Sometimes players will just go out there and do their thing. Lexi always wants clarity before she does anything. I think by doing that it shows other players that it’ s OK to ask questions.” There was never a question in
Cheveldayoff’ s
As I got older he was always saying you’ re going to be better than me. That kind of pushed me to be as good as I could be
“ As I got older he was always saying you’ re going to be better than me. That kind of pushed me to be as good as I could be. He always jokes around about how I’ m a better defenseman because he was just a fighter.” Kevin Cheveldayoff was actually a highly-regarded prospect in his own right. The one-time Brandon Wheat Kings D-man was a first round draft pick( 16th overall) of the New York Islanders in 1988 and played five seasons in the minors before a knee injury ended his playing career. Although the younger Cheveldayoff isn’ t likely to drop the gloves, she does play the game with some grit. In fact, she plays a physical style of hockey and isn’ t afraid to mix it up in the corners.“ I don’ t get a lot of penalty minutes so that’ s a plus, but I don’ t take it easy on girls either,” she says.“ I’ ll go into the corners to get the puck. If I need to bump some people to do it, I will. That’ s just kind of how I play.” Lexi, 16, has started to come into her in the offensive zone this season. She was second among Flames defenders in scoring with four goals, including two power-play markers, and six points in 14 league games. It’ s a part of her game Cheveldayoff says she worked extremely hard on this past off-season. mind about where she wanted to continue her hockey career once she graduates from St. Mary’ s. Despite numerous colleges and universities trying to woo her, the Grade 11 student knew as soon as she set foot on campus at Bemidji
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