Saskatchewan has long been known as a province that produces quality NHL players, from Gordie Howe and Bryan Trottier through to Jordan Eberle and Ryan Getzlaf.
So it should come as little to no surprise for people around the province and hockey world to notice that yet another budding NHL star in Damon Severson should call Saskatchewan home. After all, Saskatchewan is the ‘Heartland of Hockey’, so it only makes sense that Severson would be from the land of the living skies.
What does catch people by surprise however is that after the 2014/15 NHL season was over Severson, 20, did not decide to head to Europe on a long vacation.
Nor did he visit Las Vegas, Mexico or any of the various Caribbean destinations to let off a little steam as NHLers are known to do.
Instead the 6’2”, 205-pound blueliner fresh off of his rookie campaign with the New Jersey Devils decided to return to his hometown of Melville with the hopes of playing a bit of baseball in the summer sun with his hometown senior team the Melville Bison. “Well I’ve played with them before, after my WHL seasons were over,” offered Severson, continuing, “Baseball is a hobby of mine now and not a full-time job like hockey is, so I was just trying to relax a bit here and have some fun playing a bit of baseball in the sun this summer in Melville.”
But unfortunately for him his hometown team in Melville could simply not get enough guys to come out to the diamond every game which resulted in the team folding late in May, suddenly leaving Severson with a wide open summer schedule and an itch to play baseball that was left relatively unscratched. “Obviously it’s no good when any team folds,” said Severson, who scored five goals and picked up 12 assists for 17 points in 51 games in his NHL rookie season with the New Jersey Devils this past winter, “When they folded it kind of opened my summer back up.
“Obviously I’d have liked to have played ball in my home town because I’ve played ball with lots of those guys before, so all of a sudden my summer went from playing baseball to doing nothing, but it is what it is.”
Doing nothing for about a day that is, because as soon as word got around that the Bison were folding the recruiting began. No, it wasn’t other NHL teams sneakily approaching the talented rearguard in the offseason, attempting to lure him away from New Jersey when his current contract runs out in 2017.
Instead it was baseball teams, one in particular, which was hoping to pick up the talented athlete for the remainder of the 2015 summer. “The Yorkton Yankees contacted me and asked if I wanted to play some more baseball this summer or not,” said Severson. “Of course I said yes. I love playing baseball, so when Brian (Trollope) and Dalane (Lamb) came out and asked I said ‘yeah absolutely’ because it’s tough to say no to that.
“I wanted to keep playing baseball, so it just made sense to say yes to their offer.”
However Severson made it clear to the Yankees brass that, before he played a game for the Pinstripers, they knew he wasn’t going to be going all out each and every play and risk re-injuring his ankle that he fractured while blocking an Alex Ovechkin shot midway through the NHL season. “I’m not trying to be competitive out here at all. I’m not a major league ball player,” offered Severson. “I’m just coming out here, having a little fun and trying to enjoy myself with a hobby of mine in the summer without risking an injury too much.
“I’m just glad to have been picked up by a team here in Yorkton and get to play a bit of baseball this summer, relax, have fun with some good guys and gather my thoughts for the upcoming NHL season.”
But while he says he doesn’t want to be too competitive, he does admit that he is an athlete. And as an athlete, competitiveness does flow through his veins. “If I think I can make a play safely I’m definitely going to do it,” smiled Severson, adding, “I don’t want to let these guys down by not playing hard because they gave me a chance to play baseball this summer in Yorkton and I appreciate that.”
For those in Yorkton that wish to watch Severson play some baseball, he will be in action in Yorkton once again on Monday, June 22.
