By Carter Brooks Photos by Standout Imagery
Lazo says good-bye after raising the Kelly Cup
Winnipeg’ s Johnny Lazo is going out on top. The 28-year-old former Winnipeg Thrashers, Tri-City Americans and University of Alberta Golden Bears star has decided to step away from the game of hockey. In making quite possibly the most difficult decision of his career, Lazo chose in mid-July of 2017 that the 2016-17 hockey season was his last. But make no mistake, Lazo is going out a champion.
When one typically thinks of hockey players skating laps, it’ s usually thought of as punishment from a coach following a lopsided defeat, or a poor effort. But in Johnny Lazo’ s case, the final moment of his hockey career was spent skating a lap around North Charleston Coliseum in victory-- with the ECHL’ s Kelly Cup held proudly above his head.
The East Coast Hockey League – founded in 1988 – is home to 27 midlevel professional hockey teams across North American, and sits a couple steps below the NHL. One such ECHL team is the Colorado Eagles, who are a part of the Mountain Division of the league’ s Western Conference.
Johnny Lazo, meanwhile, grew up in the Maples and played his minor hockey for the former Seven Oaks Raiders. He went on to play in the WHL and the old CIS at the University of Alberta where he won a national championship and after spending a brief period of time in Europe, joined the Colorado Eagles for the 2015-16 season. He stuck around long enough to win an ECHL championship this past spring.
SEPTEMBER 2017 | GAME ON | 91