Game On Magazine 2017 March 2018 | Page 84

PROFILE M AT T H E W WISENER The Smartest Kid in the Room B Y S C O T T TAY L O R Photos by Bruce Fedyck 8 4 | G AME ON | PL AYOF F EDITION 2018 For Brad Purdie, the head coach of the RHA Bantam Elite hockey team, the educational goals of his players takes precedence above their hockey goals. Sure, we see the eye-rolls all over the province, but as Purdie points out, the Rink Hockey Academy is, indeed, an “academy” and the Bantam “Prep” program is not only preparation for the next level of hockey, but also the next level of his players’ education. “School is No. 1 for us,” Purdie said without apology. “In our Canadian Sport School Hockey League, making sure the players do well in school is the No. 1 mandate for all the programs. We take that very seriously here. “We ask our guys to maintain a certain average and a lot of our guys have done that. It’s important for us and it’s always important for our parents that we stay on top of the players. So we do study hall, whether it’s here or on the road. We’re constantly getting updates from the school, progress reports, report cards, so if there are any red flags we know about it and we address it right away.” If there is one player on Purdie’s own team -- a team that is an eyepopping 21-4-3 this season – who buys into the education-first creed, it’s a 5-foot-9, 140-pound forward named Matthew Wisener. It’s very likely, he’s the smartest kid in the room.