Connect the Dogs
Huskie hockey recruits linked at many levels
By Darren Zary of The StarPhoenix
Six degrees of separation has nothing on the 2006 recruiting class with the University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey team, which is connected on so many more levels.
First, there’s the Prince George Cougars pipeline.
Recruits Colin Patterson, Brett Parker and Myles Zimmer, who is about to sign a twoway minor league contract with the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks organization, are all former Cougars. Ditto for holdovers Brett Dickie and Matt Girling.
Larry Grozell, an assistant coach with the Huskies, scouts for the Cougars. Dallas Thompson, a former defenceman and assistant captain with the Dogs, is the Cougars’ general manager.
Two of those players, Parker and Zimmer, won a national midget AAA hockey championship (formerly the Air Canada Cup) with the Tisdale Trojans back in 2002.
There’s also a Prince Albert Raiders’ connection. Blue-chip recruits Evan Schafer, Brad Erickson and Brett Novak all played for the Raiders. The Raiders are coached by former Huskies D-man Peter Anholt.
There’s yet another connection. Novak and Parker both hail from Melville, where they played a big part of a strong bantam squad which captured a couple of provincial hockey titles. Melville, by the way, just happens to also be the hometown of current Huskies’ assistant coach Troy Walkington, who won a provincial bantam hockey title back in 1980. Walkington — yet another Huskie alumni who once played for the Dogs as a goalie — won a provincial crown with current Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Todd McLellan (a former New York Islander who also played for the Huskies), Drew Famulak (who is now an assistant coach of the Ferris State Bulldogs) and Kevin Karius (who works for Global Edmonton), just to name a few.
“A pretty good group of guys,” says Walkington.
Patterson, who hails from Saskatoon, played midget AAA for the Saskatoon Blazers.
All of the rookies mentioned above are from Saskatchewan.
“It (U of S) is close and obviously a good school and a good team,” said Patterson. “I guess everyone wants to be a part of it. I had a few other schools talk to me, but this is obviously home. I’m from Saskatoon, so I decided to stay here in my hometown, go to school and play hockey here.
“It’s going to be great. They’ve obviously done very well — for 10 years at least. It’s exciting to see what’s going to happen.”
Parker says he’s glad to be reunited with some hockey buddies on the ice.
“Every Prince George guy out here, I’ve played with, like Paddy (Patterson) for three years, and Myles Zimmer, I’ve been playing with him for four years since we played with each other in Tisdale, where we won a national championship,” said Parker. “We’ve been pretty fortunate to have guys that we know, coming here to Saskatoon.
“In Melville, I played with Brett Novak there and we won a couple of championships. Playing with him again will certainly be fun. He was my right winger almost all the way through minor hockey.
“I give kudos to Dave Adolph and his team of coaches. They’ve certainly done a good recruiting job for this year. I’ve played against most of these guys, like Brad Erickson and Evan Schafer and everybody else and they’re pretty good WHL guys to have on your team, especially a guy like Jon Bubnick (Regina Pats, Portland Winter Hawks).”
Novak has been reunited with Parker after years of playing against one another in the WHL.
“We’ve always played together, growing up from pee wee and bantam,” said Novak. “His dad coached, actually. When I was in P.A.; he was in Prince George. I didn’t get to see a lot of him, but it’s good to be back together on the same team.
Two former Raiders, Chris Schlenker and Luke Fritshaw, were potential recruits who slipped through the cracks a year ago along with Cane Pearpoint. This time, Erickson, Novak and Schafer all surfaced with the Dogs.
“That always helps,” said Novak. “I’ve got to do what’s best for me but it helps to have buddies on the team, guys that you played with before.”
Although Zimmer’s days with the Dogs are numbered once he officially signs a pro contract, he could yet return to the U of S.
“I’ve always enjoyed Saskatoon, as a city, and the U of S,” said Zimmer. “It’s something that I was excited to come here and go to school here. It’s just a Saskatchewan connection, too. The Prince George guys are from Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan has a lot of roots, people they create in a lifetime. They always like to come back.
“Me and Parker, that was a few years ago we played together (in Tisdale). Me and Brett have played together for almost five or six years now. We had a year away last year (when Parker was in Melville and finished with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants) but it would be exciting to be back with him.”
dzary@sp.canwest.com
