You’ ve got to think the game well as much as play it, if you can think the game well, playing it will make success come just that much easier
By Les Lazaruk Sports Director, Saskatoon Media Group / Saskatoon Blades’ play-by-play Photos by Steve Hiscock / Saskatoon Blades
SASKATOON, SK.-- A few decades ago, one of Manitoba’ s best male curlers was skipping a team in the provincial men’ s championship. In between draws, he sidled up to a reporter and said,“ Don’ t call me from Baldur, call me from Belmont.” For his first season-and-a-half with the Saskatoon Blades, Logan Christensen had a similar wish.“( My) hometown is Lundar, Manitoba,” said the 18-year-old, before adding,“ But, when I was drafted by the Blades( in the spring of 2014), I was living in Morden, Manitoba. So, they just had Morden as my hometown for the last year. I thought I had it changed at the end of last year, but I didn’ t so it still says Morden.” The confusion regarding Christensen’ s hometown has a back story, of course.“ Well, Lundar is a pretty small town( population 1,351 according to the 2011 census),” he said.“ It’ s a nice town, but the hockey isn’ t as high of a level as I wanted to play then so my mom( Misty) and step-dad( Mark Desjarlais) moved to Morden( population 7,812 in 2011) and I played Bantam AAA and Midget AAA( with the Pembina Valley Hawks), which was really good and it helped me get here.“ A year or two before I played Midget, the Hawks had seven players drafted to the WHL, so I thought it was pretty good place to be.” The move worked out for Christensen. Saskatoon chose him with the 30th overall pick( in the second round) of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft and he was one of five 16-year-olds to crack the Blades’ roster for the 2015-16 season. He has cultivated a reputation as being a“ smart” player on the ice. Besides taking a regular shift, Saskatoon head coach Dean Brockman utilizes Christensen on the penalty kill, as a point m a n on the Blades’
second power play unit as well as tapping him on the shoulder to take defensive zone face-offs at key moments of games. That’ s high praise for a young sophomore in the WHL, especially when one considers that he was an offensive producer for Pembina Valley as a Bantam( 36 goals and 71 points in 51 games) and as a Midget( 18 goals and 39 points in 42 games) for the 2014-15 Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League-champion Hawks.
You’ ve got to think the game well as much as play it, if you can think the game well, playing it will make success come just that much easier
“ I don’ t think it has changed a whole lot,” said Christensen, when asked if his style of play had been altered from Bantam and Midget to the Major Junior ranks.“ I think I’ m a little more defensive now that I’ m here. But, other than that, I’ ve stayed pretty on par with my game.” If there is one thing about Christensen that sets him apart from many other players, it’ s his cerebral approach to the game. Not many athletes give the game quite as much thought.“ You’ ve got to think the game well as much as play it,” explained Christensen with regards to his“ smart” player rep.“ If you can think
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