BY SCOTT TAYLOR Photos courtesy Buffalo Sabres and Dr. Cal Botterill

Born in Edmonton and raised in Winnipeg, Jason Botterill and his sister Jennifer grew up on the outdoor rink at Wildewood Community Centre. He’ s a former NHL player who spent the past 10 years working up the Pittsburgh Penguins’ executive ranks and as a tribute to his work in Pittsburgh, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford referred to Botterill as the“ key architect” of the Pens’ 2009 and 2016 Stanley Cup-winning teams. Now he’ s taking what he learned in Winnipeg, at the University of Michigan and with the Penguins and putting it to work as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. Despite a very slow start, it’ s hard to imagine that the future isn’ t going to be bright in Buffalo.

BUFFALO N. Y./ WINNIPEG MB – Jason Botterill’ s dad, Dr. Cal Botterill, vividly remembers his kids playing on the outdoor rink at Wildwood Park Community Centre.

One day, the longtime icemaker at Wildwood, Tom Patterson, got into a long conversation with Cal, a former member of Father David Bauer’ s Winnipegbased Team Canada, about his kids’ passion for the game of hockey.

“ I said to Tom,‘ Remember the kids playing on that outdoor rink?’” Botterill recalled.“ Well, Tom just laughed and said,‘ Remember them!? I think I knew your kids better than you did.’ I kind of laughed nervously because he might have been right. It was a half a block from our house to the rink and the kids would come home for dinner, eat and go right back to the rink. They skated all day and all night. It’ s where they both got their start.”

It’ s unlikely that there is a Winnipegger of a certain age that hasn’ t heard of Jennifer Botterill, three-time Olympic women’ s ice hockey gold medalist, five-time world champion and occasional Hockey Night in Canada host.

It’ s also likely that those same Winnipeggers have heard of Jennifer’ s brother, Jason, now 40, who has three World Junior Championship gold medals, an NCAA championship, a Calder Cup championship and two Stanley Cups as an executive with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But it’ s also likely that very few Winnipeggers know Jason as“ one of us,” a kid who was born in Edmonton when his dad taught at the University of Alberta, but grew up in Winnipeg, his father’ s hometown, after Cal took a Sports Psychology position in the Recreation and Athletic Department at the University of Winnipeg.

“ He played all his minor