Game On Magazine 2017 Nov Game On low res | Page 94

PROFILE
STEPHEN
KLEYSEN
The Long
Climb
B Y S C O T T TAY L O R
Photos by Greystoke Photography
9 4 | G AM E ON | N OVEM BER 2017
TO HEAR STEPHEN KLEYSEN TELL
it, there are few places he’d
rather play hockey than in
Kelowna, B.C.
“It’s a great city,” said
Kleysen bluntly. “It’s got a good
fan base and we have a great
group of guys. This season, we
return 12 players and we’ve
made a couple of big trades,
so we’ll have a pretty good
hockey team. We have plenty
of veteran leadership and we
should be a contending team.
I’m excited about the season.”
This will be Kleysen’s
second full season in the BC
Junior Hockey League and
for the 20-year-old former
member of the provincial
champion Winnipeg Wild
Triple A midgets and the
MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues, it’s
also a very important season.
“My plan this year was
pretty simple,” he said
matter-of-factly. “Go to
Kelowna, have a good year
and get an NCAA Division
1 scholarship. I’ve talked
with a number of schools,
but no decisions yet.
“When I was passed
over in the WHL draft as
a 14-year-old, it was at
that point when I realized
that education was my
No. 1 goal and pursuing
an NCAA Division 1
scholarship was the direction
in which I wanted my
hockey career to go.”
Kleysen will probably
have some decisions to make
this spring. He’s talked with
St. Lawrence University,
Bemidji State and Robert
Morris, but according to his
father, Tom, there are many
more. He just finished a
tremendous BCHL Showcase
and offers are arriving every
day. It’s been a long climb
since he first played the
game as a six-year-old.
“I started playing hockey
when I was six and it was a bit
of a fluke,” Kleysen recalled.
“Nobody in my family played
hockey. We were a lake
family. I had a friend who
played hockey and because
of that, I wanted to play. I
think my family thought I’d
ask once and then just forget
it, but I was persistent. So
they got me out to Timbits
and I’ll always remember,
the first time I stepped on
the ice, I fell flat on my ass.
But I also remember that
on the way down, I shot the
puck the length of the ice
and scored. I was hooked.
“I’d shoot pucks in the
driveway three hours a
night. My mom couldn’t
get me off the driveway.
I guess I went through a
pretty average route to the
Blues – Fort Garry North
Hockey Association, 8-A1,
9-A1, 10-A1, twins Double
A at Peewee, then over to
the Monarchs for Bantam
and City Midget and then I
played a year with the Wild
and then a year and a half
with the Blues.”
His father Tom, a
businessman who created