Bartlett deserving of honour
The end of the hockey season is in sight. It certainly doesn’t mean hockey just goes away, but the traditional hockey season has nearly come and gone. The bantam and midget AAA teams will finish their respective regular seasons this weekend and quickly transition to playoff mode.
Programming coming up for Hockey Alberta in Lethbridge will be announced shortly, but it has been announced in Medicine Hat. I am just waiting on my ice bookings from the City of Lethbridge. Hockey Alberta will be running a Power Edge Pro and Small Area Games Camp as well as an Elite Development Camp this spring. I would hope by my next column the exact details will be announced. On Tuesday night, the WHL honoured Bob Bartlett with the WHL’s Distinguished Service Award at the Lethbridge Hurricanes game against Tri-City. A truly great accomplishment for someone with over 40 years experience in the WHL. My experience working with Bob has merely been the tip of the iceberg in terms of his service in the WHL and service to hockey in our community. Bob started working in the WHL in 1974, 15 years before I was born (sorry if that ages you, Bob). But for the past several years I have had the privilege of working with Bob several times and had the pleasure of a few lunches and many coffees with Bob.
What I have realized with Bob is the pride he has in our community and the amount of thankless behind-the-scenes work he does to help good people. Bob has been instrumental in bringing several events to our community, has been a voice in promoting the game and been impactful in creating opportunities for individuals both in playing and the business side of the sport. Personally, I have been fortunate enough to be able to use Bob as a reference on my resume. What I maybe didn’t realize at the time was the amount of weight having the name Bob Bartlett on your resume can carry. Not only in the work he has done for his name to carry the amount of weight that it does, but the amount of care and personal support he offers.
I remember a few years ago sitting in the Co-Operators Arena in Regina at the SaskFirst Tournament and watching several hockey games with Bob and receiving some of the most meaningful career advice I have had. I also remember a 30-minute phone conversation in the parking lot of the Canadian Brewhouse before meeting with Alan Millar about the goalie coach position in Moose Jaw. Again he not only helped me as a reference but helped me prepare and supported my personal goals. I have talked to several other people in our community who received similar support over the years, whether it was support in signing a pro contract or a reference name on their resume. All of this is often thankless work that Bob does to go above and beyond.
The truth with Bob is he is a humble man who has worked behind the scenes to help hockey players and hockey people in our community get ahead. So humble in fact that before he went out to receive his award from WHL Commissioner Ron Robison on Tuesday all he could say was “I hope it’s short.”
If for one second I thought I was the only person that Bob offered his expertise, advice and care towards, I wouldn’t be writing this article. But for all the people in this community who have been privileged enough to be supported by Bob I would like to use this platform to offer a genuine thank you. Our community offers a great deal of gratitude to you and the WHL Distinguished Service Award is merely a shred of the recognition you deserve.
I also wanted to acknowledge a truly great underdog story that has occurred to a local hockey player. Just this weekend the Kelowna Rockets returned Cole Tisdale to the Lethbridge Minor Midget Hurricanes. Cole is one of the top 15-yearold goaltenders in the province, but thanks to an abundance of goaltending depth in our community, he and Brayden Peters have been playing on the Minor Midget AAA team, even while some of their peers in communities without this amount of depth have been playing Major Midget AAA. I know Geoff Oster is certainly lucky to have that goaltending tandem on his Minor Midget team.
With injuries to their goaltenders in Kelowna, Cole was thrown right into the fire in his first WHL start and first place on the line against the high-flying Victoria Royals. He won that game, defeated his hometown Lethbridge Hurricanes in his second start before finally taking a regulation loss to Everett, and seeing World Junior star Carter Hart in the other net. Truly a great story for a great kid and hopefully just the kickoff to his WHL career but again a great story for a 15-yearold not even age eligible to play in the WHL.