Sask. siblings share Sochi Olympic experience
Mark Wheler muses that the only reason he gets to join older brother Ken at the Sochi Olympics is because of their mother.
“I joke with people that my mom (Fran) phoned and said that (Ken) couldn’t go if I couldn’t go,” Mark Wheler, a National Hockey League official since 1995, says with a chuckle.
“That really didn’t happen, but that’s what I tell people.”
The Whelers, together, tell the tale of two brothers, born and raised in Battleford, rising through the minor hockey ranks on to junior A and major junior hockey and then, finally, the NHL.
The Saskatchewan-born siblings are both in Sochi to share the Olympic experience as men’s hockey officials. Mark is on the ice as one of six NHL linesmen. Ken, who is an officiating manager for the NHL, works behind the scenes as a supervisor.
Ken calls Sochi his biggest assignment yet.
“It is, for me, the biggest of any kind, yes it is,” the 56-year-old says. “I think it’s pretty cool, too. It’s a little bit of the luck of the draw, but it works out pretty good. We obviously have two different roles but our paths will cross many times while we are there.”
BATTLEFORD GROOMED
Ken Wheler remembers those early days back before the hockey barn in Battleford got converted into a furniture store.
“We actually grew up about a block and a half from the old Battleford Arena,” he says.
Ken Wheler worked his way up through what was then the Saskatchewan Amateur Junior Hockey League and Western Canada Hockey League. He refereed the 1980 Memorial Cup and “went on for a shortlived cup of coffee in the pros.”
He worked on-ice in the NHL from 1980-83 before moving on to serve in a managerial role.
Mark Wheler began officiating hockey at age 13. He credits brother Ken for being his biggest influence.
Back then, Ken was working in the WCHL and Mark thought it looked like it was a pretty cool job.
“He encouraged me and also told me to not put all my eggs in one basket,” says Mark, who went on to get a degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1988 based on that advice.
Mark was working in the SJHL at age 16 and, by age 18, he was working WHL games.
Mark also credits brother Ken for maybe pulling a few strings. He remembers attending a referee school in Calgary.
“Basically,” Mark says, “the deal was to keep from mom and dad having to pay for my tuition. (Ken) said he’d work it for nothing so I could go. You can gain a lot of knowledge in a short period of time that it might take you two or three years of experience to learn.”
Mark was tutored by all the big-name NHL officials back then, guys like Andy Van Hellemond, Swede Knox, Randy Mitton, Bryan Lewis.
“IT COULD BE THE BIGGEST STAGE I’VE EVER BEEN ON.”
MARK WHELER
“It was really instrumental that this could be a real possible career,” says Mark, who got hired when Ottawa and Tampa Bay joined the NHL in 1992.
Today, at age 48, he is based with his family in Calgary.
SASKATCHEWAN
The brothers still have plenty of Saskatchewan ties. Mom and Dad, Fran and Elliott (Slim) Wheler, still live in the Battlefords along with brother Doug.
Another brother, Jim, lives in Saskatoon.
Brother Greg lives in Moose Jaw and another, Don, in Lashburn.
In Sochi, however, they are alone.
“Unfortunately, just because of the logistics,” explains Ken. “Certainly our spouses were welcome to come along but, just with commitments and time frame and isolation in Sochi, it didn’t seem to be the best choice.”
At the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where Ken worked behind the scenes, Mark’s wife and children went to Vancouver for a few days, while Mark chose to just stay home and take a little break from the season.
“It’s kind of funny how it’s worked out,” he says. “This time I’m going halfway around the world, and my brother’s going to be there, but my family is staying home.”
WORLD STAGE
Mark Wheler has worked the Stanley Cup finals (2001, 2002 and 2004) in the NHL but he hasn’t had the international experience others have had.
“It could be the biggest stage I’ve ever been on,” he admits.
“When you get to the Stanley Cup final, it’s the only game in town, in North America. This is the world, and presumably all the best players from every nation in the world.
“I just look at them as being very different. One is such a war of attrition for those two teams to get there and, as an official, you’ve battled all season and two months further to get to there, too. As a North American kid, that’s kind of what you dream of. But the world stage aspect of the Olympics, you can’t deny how big that is.”
As an NHL officiating manager, Ken Wheler works primarily in the scouting and development side with younger officials at the AHL and NHL levels.
Wheler reviews their progress as some of them jump back and forth between the AHL and NHL.
Saskatoon’s Graham Skilleter is a prime example.
Neither brother seemed too worried about possible security threats at the Olympics.
“I’m aware of it,” Mark said. “As people have said, it’s probably going to be the safest place in the world for two weeks.
“To me, it’s just about being in a totally different culture, something I’ve never experienced. I’m just treating it as being an adventure. Everything you see pictures of is new and shiny, so it might not be anything like, in your mind, a trip to Russia would be like.
“It’s going to be really, really interesting.”