A former captain of the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins has captured a national championship in the U.S.
Tanner Froese, who played for the Bruins from 2011 to 2014, and captained the club in the 2013-14 season, was part of the St. Norbert College Green Knights men's hockey team that won an NCAA Division III title on Saturday night. The Green Knights defeated the Salve Regina University Seahawks 3-2 in double overtime in the national title game in Lake Placid, N.Y.
“It feels great and it’s why I came to St. Norbert,” said Froese. “They have a great track record of winning championships and it was just a matter of time. I’m surprised it took me this long the way this program is run.”
Froese, a senior on the Green Knights, had three assists in the game and was named the most valuable player of the tournament. Winning the title and being able to carry the trophy around was a great feeling for Froese.
“It feels so amazing,” said Froese. “I was on top of the world and I still kind of am. It’s even more special to do it with this senior class. We’ve been through a lot and we came close the last couple of years. To finally get one to go out on top is pretty special.”
The victory capped Froese's four-year collegiate career with the Green Knights, and an outstanding senior season. He led the Green Knights in goals with 14, assists with 17 and points with 31. He was also named a first-team All-American.
It wraps the four years of Froese at the school, but not totally on the 25-year-old’s hockey career. He plans to turn pro next season.
“I don’t think I can give it up so I’m going to see what I can do next year,” he said. “I’m going to look to go the pro hockey route.”
There are fewer people in hockey circles than Chris Lewgood, the current Power Dodge Estevan Bruins head coach and general manager who tapped Froese to be the captain in Lewgood’s first season with the club.
“I give a lot of credit to that organization and they built me into the player I am today,” said Froese. “They helped me find my type of role, which I used in my college career and Chris Lewgood had a part in that and we keep in touch. He’s been talking to me lately and telling me congratulations and how proud he is of me, and it’s a great organization. I still keep close with (them).”
“Tanner was a tremendous leader for us (and he) led by example every day,” Lewgood recalled. “He competed every time he showed up at the rink and even at the gym, he was one of the guys he led for us. No surprise Tanner has had the success he’s had at St. Norbert. That’s an extremely high level of hockey… For him to excel and be a leader there is no surprise. He just gets the most out of himself every single day.”
Depending on what the future bring for him hockey-wise, he expects to be moving back to Estevan in the summer with his business degree.
