Game On Magazine - April 2017 GameOn-Apr2017-P001-144-ONLINE | Page 74

PART 5: MANITOBA’S HOCKEY FAMILIES
older, teenaged brothers. In fact, it’s all about fun for him.
“I started playing hockey with my brothers on our back yard rink
when I was three-years-old and my first team was the Macdonald
Squirts,” he said. “Hockey is a lot of fun. I like to play it and I like to
watch my brothers play it. And I like to dress up as the Blue Morph
Kid when I go to Jets games.
“I want to play in the NHL one day and score on my brother Cole
in an NHL game. It’s tough when I don’t score during a game, but
mostly it’s pretty fun.”
Despite the fact, it’s never been an easy road for Tim and Mi-
chelle’s older sons, there is no quit in either of them. They’ve both
set goals and they are still both excited about their futures in the
game, but like so many young men and women who want to play the
game at the highest levels, there have been ups and downs.
“My goal from a young age has been to play in the MJHL at some
point,” said Declan, a Grade 12 student at St. Paul’s High School.
“Now that I’m a little older, College or WHL hockey is definitely
something I would love to reach.
“I’ve had good years and bad years. I’ve had very good coaches,
like this year, but for the majority of my hockey career, it has mainly
been bad coaches and that has made it tough to get better and
move on to the next level. On my 14th birthday I broke my femur
clean in half and had a titanium rod and two screws put into my
bones. I was pretty worried about my hockey future, but I had a
lot of great people who helped me recover. I was back on the ice in
seven weeks at Shattuck-St Mary’s where they gave me physio and
training on and off ice. They were amazing. I was stronger than ever
in no time and it has never bothered me one bit since.”
Although he’s currently playing Jr. C in St. Adolphe, Declan did
“It’s an unfortunate and harsh reality of hockey today. Associa-
tion hockey will only take you so far. It’s incredibly rare that any
player gets anywhere without doing something extra. There are so
many camps and clinics these days. The hardest part is figuring out
which camps are worth it. There are some really great coaches out
there that are really redefining the sport, especially where goalies
are concerned. There’s no question that our boys wouldn’t be where
they are today if we didn’t go to a lot of camps and clinics. Our boys
will be the first to tell you that they’ve gotten tremendous inspira-
tion and found the most skill development outside of association
hockey.”
Declan, the family’s oldest, didn’t start playing until he was
10-years-old.
“I started playing because I began watching the NHL a lot and it
looked like a lot of fun to me,” he said. “I started with Mike Loustel
at World three-on-three and I’ve laced up my skates every single
week since then.
“I love hockey because it’s my time to show what I’ve got and
get away from the outside world. To relieve stress a bit by banging
some bodies around (he laughed).”
Cole started a little earlier than Declan, but he wasn’t one of those
kids who laced on the blades at three and started Timbits at four.
I started playing when I was eight-years-old,” he explained. “Dur-
ing the 2009 NHL playoffs my family was watching more intently
than usual. Soon after the playoffs were over I switched from soc-
cer to hockey. My brother and I had bodies that were clearly better
suited for hockey than soccer. My first experience in hockey was
with Mike Loustel at World three-on-three.
“Hockey is very important to me. In hockey I’ve made a lot of
friends. I’ve been to many places and I’ve learned a lot of life les-
sons.”
Brycen, the youngest, takes the game a lot less seriously than his
74 GAME ON
2017 PLAYOFF EDITION
I’d like to take my game as far
as I can. It would be a tremendous
experience to be able to play at the
pro level, but in the meantime, my
plan is to play the next two years at
Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy
(in Kelowna, B.C.) and then go on to
play in the WHL
spend some time in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League as
an AP this season and says he considers himself lucky to have that
opportunity.
Cole, meanwhile, made a big decision last fall to take an entire
year off competitive hockey in order to train with Eli Wilson and
Andy Kollar His plan is to play at Pursuit of Excellence next season
and he believes that by concentrating on improving his skills this
season, he’s become a better player.
“I’d like to take my game as far as I can,” Cole said. “It would be
a tremendous experience to be able to play at the pro level, but in
the meantime, my plan is to play the next two years at Pursuit of
Excellence Hockey Academy (in Kelowna, B.C.) and then go on to