Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 110

Driedger grew up in the South End of
Winnipeg and played for the 9-A1 City
Champs, the Fort Garry Flyers. He moved
up to the Twins and then the played for
City Midget Monarchs and was eventually
drafted in the fourth round (80th overall)
by the Tri-City Americans. He played for
team Manitoba at the 2009 U-16 Western
Canada Challenge Cup and then went to
Tri-City as a 16-year-old.
He played for Canada at the 2011
U-17 World Hockey Challenge and was
eventually dealt to the Calgary Hitmen.
He had a great career in Calgary and
was selected by Ottawa in the third
round (76th overall) of the 2012 NHL
Entry Draft.
Meanwhile, one of the stars of the
French Elite Hockey League, Winnipeg’s
Adam Hughesman was also on the trip.
“It was great, it was really a lot of fun,”
said Hughesman. “It was nice to meet
some other guys that I hadn’t met before
and some that I knew, like Chris Driedger
Manitoba stars (L to R) Adam Hughesman,
Chris Driedger and Terry Yake show
Australia hockey fans an experience
of a lifetime
1 1 0 | G AM E O N | SE P T EM BER 2 0 1 7
and Chad Naehring who was with the
Ottawa organization. It was nice to
get together with those guys and have
a little fun in Oz. I’d never been there
before so it was great and we raised
awareness for concussion research so
that was great, too.”
Hughesman, who was born and raised
in Winnipeg and played his Triple A
Bantam hockey with the Sharks and
Triple A Midget with the Winnipeg Wild,
is off to play in France this season.
“I signed with Bordeaux. I had a
buddy email me earlier in the summer
about this team and this opportunity.
My agent and I were hoping for a higher
league, but that didn’t materialize so it’s
good to have a job.
“I think I’m going to be playing a lot.
I’m going to be running the power play
and I’ll be with a really good buddy,
Olivier LaBelle. I played with him on
the Reading Royals in the ECHL and
hopefully, if things go well, we can move
up to a higher league after this season,
but I’m very happy and it’s going to be a
fun year.”
While showcasing elite hockey on
the ice, the 2017 Ice Hockey Classic
also made huge strides off the ice.
The Classic raised awareness for Brain
Injury Australia and raised funds for
the stopconcussion.com Foundation in
association with Shoot for a Cure.
“What an incredible opportunity to
showcase ice hockey around Australia
and at the same time raise awareness for
our causes,” said stopconcussions.com
and Shoot for a Cure Co-Founder, Kerry
Goulet “Thanks to our partners, TLA
Worldwide and TEG Live, along with
our title sponsor Hungry Jack’s and
Scotiabank for making 2017 another
successful event.”
For the first time ever an official
Zamboni was a big part this year’s Ice
Hockey Classic. An official Zamboni
weighs nearly 12,000 pounds, however
that didn’t stop the Zamboni from
traveling across the world for this
celebrated tournament. Another first
was building a hockey rink from scratch,
including NHL style boards and ice
surface. The entire process of building
an ice rink from scratch took three days
and then it took 16 hours to dismantle
the rink in order for the materials to be
back on the trucks in order to travel to
the next city.
“I want to thank all the players and
volunteers for taking time out of their
busy schedules to support our Ice
Hockey Classic in Australia,” Goulet
added. “Without their support and the
support of the fans who bought tickets,
we would not be able to present this
event in Australia.”
And Manitoba’s hockey pros,
Chris Driedger, Terry Yake and Adam
Hughesman would not have been
able to enjoy the competition and
camaraderie that they experienced in
front of the outstanding hockey fans
of Australia. ❍