From border to border, coast to coast and even overseas hockey players from the Battlefords and area are stepping up and showing their leadership qualities.
Starting on the home front, the Battlefords North Stars haven't named a captain yet for the 2012-13 season, but one Battlefords product is definitely in the running for the honour.
Defenceman Dillon Forbes is one of three players to wear an 'A' on their jerseys. Forbes, along with Robbie Newton and Brody Luhning have quickly stepped up in the coaches' eyes as leaders for the Battlefords North Stars. Forbes, who is in his second season with the North Stars, was a captain in his final season with the Battlefords Midget Stars.
If hockey fans head west from the Battlefords down Highway 16, they will find another local area, and former Battlefords Midget Star, wearing the 'C' Casey Knight was named the captain of the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Junior Hockey League earlier this month. Knight is in his final season of junior hockey and third with the Bobcats. He was an assistant last season with the Bobcats.
"It's a big honour. I was really happy that I got the 'C,'" explained Knight to the Lloydminster Source. "I have tried to be a leader the past three years I've been here."
In Southern Saskatchewan at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport level, Wilkie product and former Midget Star defenceman Russ Nielsen is a leader with the Regina Cougars. Nielsen served as captain of a Royal Bank Cup-winning Humboldt Broncos team and continues to be a leader at the University of Regina. Nielsen is in his fifth and final year with the Cougars and after being named captain last season is back this year with the 'C' on his sweater.
Nielsen is recovering from a shoulder injury and on the Cougars' most recent road trip to Manitoba he served as an assistant coach. He plans to be back in the lineup in a week or two.
At the professional level, he may not wear a letter on his jersey this season because he is with a new team, but North Battleford's Brennan Evans was an assistant last season with the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League and will likely be counted on as a leader on the team. This season, Evans is looking to play with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
During the 1999-2000 season, Evans played 52 games in the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Hockey League. He played 257 games in the WHL and since 2003 has played 636 games in the American Hockey League recording 100 points and 1,349 penalty minutes.
Overseas, in the Elite Ice Hockey League, Derek Keller, a former North Star and captain at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level, is an alternating assistant captain of his new team - the Fife Flyers. Fife is off to a great start with a 5-1 record. Keller has one goal and five assists with the team. He alternates with defence partner, roommate and a former teammate at St. Lawrence University and South Carolina in the East Coast Hockey League, Jeff Caister. Keller said the two of them also serve as assistant coaches, at times running the defence with the Flyers in their first seasons.
"Jeff will be our second alternate captain for our home games and Derek will take on the role for away games," explained Flyers' player/coach Todd Dutaiaume in an article on the team's website. "These two guys work great together and have shown in their short time over here just what they are capable of. I have been on teams in the past with alternating alternate captains and it works well."
"It is going good, hockey is going pretty well and the fans are crazy for us imports," said Keller after his first month in Scotland.
