Coach’s pep talk has team in stitches
Asa regular feature, StarPhoenix sports reporter Cory Wolfe gets personal with a sports figure. Today, University of Saskatchewan hockey player Brent Twordik gets cornered. The Huskies open the national tournament next Thursday in Moncton, N.B.
The SP: According to your bio, you were a go-kart champion as a boy and you’ve won multiple curling club championships since 2003. Is there anything you can’t do?
Twordik: ( Laughs) Well, I think the boys were having a little bit of fun with me on our resumés this year. Somebody must have fudged it. I’m going to say it was (teammate Keegan) McAvoy.
The SP: Name something that proves you’re all about westside Saskatoon.
Twordik: The ’82 Rampage that I drove from the age of 16 to 20.
The SP: ( Laughs) Few teammates have been able to coax you off the ice during the final five minutes of a close game. Even coach Dave Adolph has given up. Says Adolph: “If he’s tired and there’s a faceoff in the defensive zone, he’ll go back and lean on the dasherboard like a stubborn dog that won’t come.” What happened to 30-second shifts?
Twordik: ( Smiles) I do what I think is best for the team and sometimes I think I know better than Dave.
The SP: You played five seasons with the Swift Current Broncos. Name a WHL foe that you still can’t stand.
Twordik: Vern Fiddler, who now plays in the NHL (with the Nashville Predators). He was a guy I really didn’t like to play against when he was in Medicine Hat especially.
The SP: Hockey broadcasters always have plenty of advice for “the kids at home.” What’s yours?
Twordik: The main thing is a shot. If you have a shot, you can play.
The SP: Your idol is Skeletor, the arch-enemy of HeMan. What’s up with that?
Twordik: Again, that’s fun and games from the boys. Real idol? Cam Neely.
The SP: Describe a memorable pep talk from a hockey coach.
Twordik: (While playing with the Broncos) we were in Kootenay. Our coach was Todd McLellan, who’s now an assistant coach with Detroit. We took a penalty late in the period. They tied the game and we went into overtime. He came in and kicked the garbage can and broke his toe. Then he punched the wall. He didn’t break anything up top, but his arm was in a sling the next day.
The SP: What are the best and worst things about Rutherford Rink?
Twordik: The best thing is nobody wants to come play here. The worst thing is that we really don’t want to play here, either.
The SP: ( Laughs) That’s very funny. Who should play the love interest in a movie about your life?
Twordik: Whoa . . . Well, she’s gotta be blonde. Name some blondies. The SP: Your taste is your taste, man. Twordik: OK. I’ll go with Liz Hurley.
TheSP: ( Laughs) That was a pretty wild ride you just took me on. Name one day from your childhood that you’d like to relive.
Twordik: The day my next-door neighbour smashed my Toronto Blue Jays batting helmet. The SP: She’s not blonde. Twordik: Nope. I’ll take her, though. The SP: You’d like to relive that? Twordik: Yeah, because maybe I could’ve done something back to him instead of just crying and going home.
cwolfe@sp.canwest.com
