Lethbridge Minor Hockey celebrates Wall of Honour
Apost-it note, a player who motivated the next generation, a little northside toughness and a legacy that will live on.
It nicely summed up the inductees of the inaugural Lethbridge Minor Hockey Wall of Honour.
Prior to the Lethbridge midget AAA Hurricanes Alberta Midget Hockey League game against the Leduc Oil Kings, Lethbridge Minor Hockey honoured four of its athletes who have made their marks on the program, naming Logan Boulet, Brock Hirsche, Jamie Pushor and Kris Versteeg to the first Wall of Honour Sunday afternoon at Nicholas Sheran Arena.
Versteeg, the northsider onhand for Sunday’s induction, won a pair of Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 and 2015. Pushor also won a Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997.
As Boulet’s and Hirsche’s contributions to Lethbridge Minor Hockey were honoured Sunday, so were their memories.
Boulet was one of 16 people killed in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash April 6.
Two days later, Hirsche, 26, passed away following a battle with testicular cancer.
Boulet’s decision to become an organ donor on his 21st birthday March 2 created the Logan Boulet effect, inspiring thousands of Canadians to sign up and become organ donors.
“We are very honoured and proud of the work Logan did as a hockey player and a young man and we’re proud of the work we’re doing as a family for his choice to be an organ donor and the recognition that he’s earning and deserves,” said Boulet’s father, Toby, who was part of the pre-game ceremony alongside his wife Bernadine.
“We are honoured that Lethbridge Minor Hockey chose Logan as one of the four.”
Toby said the last time his family was at Nicholas Sheran Arena was his son’s celebration of life in April.
“So this is a much more celebratory, happy occasion. It’s exciting for me and it’s an honour to be a part of this. Of the last seven months, this is one of the good days.”
Attending Sunday’s ceremony with his wife, Sharla, Hirsche’s father Tim remembered his son as someone with a set routine of a meal of pasta and vegetables precisely three hours before a practice or a game — in addition to his pregame nap — Tim recalled a note Hirsche wrote to himself as a child that stayed in the family’s home.
“He had a post-it note on the fridge for years and when he was drafted to the Western Hockey League by the Cougars and played his first game with the Cougars I said ‘Brock, how old were you when you put that post-it note on the fridge?’ He said ‘I was seven.’ The post-it note said “My goal is to play in the WHL and if things go well, the NHL.”
Mosaic Corporation Canada out of Saskatchewan donated $5,000 to the home arena of each of the 16 that passed away in the Humboldt accident for a total of $80,000, said Toby.
Of the $5,000 given to Nicholas Sheran Arena, $2,500 went to open up the Lethbridge Minor Hockey Wall of Honour and $2,500 went to the midget AAA Hurricane’s dressing room.
Bernadine recalled her son’s impressive midget hockey run in Lethbridge.
“When he was in AA midget, his team won the South Central Alberta Hockey League and they got to go to Red Deer and beat Red Deer in their barn. They were provincial champions that year also,” she said. “When he was in AAA midget they went to a tournament in Kelowna. They won that and he beat out all these prep schools. It was pretty cool because his friends said you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to be a championship team.”
Hirsche wore a letter on his jersey at every level he played and it started with Lethbridge Minor Hockey as he captained teams in atom A, peewee AA, bantam AAA and midget AAA.
That trend continued when he began his Western Hockey League career with the Prince George Cougars and when he returned home to join the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, serving as captain for both teams.
Prior to his passing, Hirsche established The Brock Hirsche Memorial Pronghorn Hockey Award, a scholarship to be awarded annually at the University of Lethbridge to a Pronghorn men’s hockey player who displays leadership and is involved in promoting men’s health awareness.
“It’s pretty amazing. Brock would probably be a little bit overwhelmed as we are. He would be very proud,” said Tim. “So much thanks to Lethbridge Minor Hockey for everything they’ve done for all the boys. It was very nicely done.”
Versteeg’s “Northside Tough” label for Sunday’s ceremony was given to him by Boulet’s father, who was also Versteeg’s teacher at Winston Churchill High School.
“That was very kind of Toby,” said Versteeg. “I know that when I went to Winston Churchill, we were all very proud, especially the northsiders in Lethbridge. So it was very humbling to get called that. I know a lot of my friends growing up on the north side of Lethbridge would be very proud of that title as well.”
Versteeg went straight from the Val Matteotti Golden Hawks to the Lethbridge Hurricanes before beginning his NHL career.
“This is pretty special,” he said of his induction. “I know that for myself it’s special for my family and my grandparents and everyone who was here. To be able to see everything you put into the game recognized and for the other players who have been recognized as well, it’s very special for their families and seeing the emotions.”
Versteeg also noted the importance of his fellow inductees.
“Jamie Pushor is a guy that, when he was with the Hurricanes, was somebody I looked up to as a young kid watching him play. Seeing Jamie recognized for helping to bring hockey players of my generation along was very special,” he said.
“I’ve known Brock for a very long time, used to go out and help coach his hockey teams. I knew Brock on a very personal level and got to know his parents as well.”
“I knew Toby from him teaching me at Winston Churchill and teaching my brothers. My brother, Mitch, had a more personal relationship with Logan when he coached him at Bruce Bell’s hockey school. There are always a lot of connections in the hockey world. You wish you weren’t in this situation, but for them to be recognized for everything they’ve done and for their families to be recognized for all the work they put in is very special.”
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