By Scott Taylor
Photos by Dylan Asmundson
A time will always come during a game when RINK Hockey Academy U16 Prep head coach Jeff Borse will look down his bench and see The Trio. Forwards Connor Bear, Hudson Brehaut and Kaleb Dewar will be sitting alongside each other and Borse will give them all a tap and yell, "OK, Sask Boys, you're up!" The combination of hustle, enthusiasm and aggressiveness will make him smile. "We carry 11 players, so sometimes, they'll be on the same line," said Borse. "When they are getting close to coming up next, we'll say, 'Sask Boys! You're up!' so, yeah, they'll play together sometimes and they're fun to watch. And everybody knows the Sask guys." This season, Borse and the recruiters at the RINK Winnipeg, were able to encourage three young Saskatchewan players to join the program and it's added a little jump to the team's lineup.
Bear, from Whitewood, Sask., was at the RINK last season and he's been joined for the 2022-23 campaign by another Whitewood player, Hudson Brehaut, and gritty Kaleb Dewar from Lanigan, Sask. "All three have different stories," explained Borse. "And it's neat to see three guys from Saskatchewan, all with different backgrounds who found different ways of getting information about our program. It's also intriguing to watch everyone put together the puzzle once they arrived. "Of course, they do have more in common than just coming from Saskatchewan. They all love the grit and the physical elements of the game. And they love to chatter on the ice. They play the game the right way and they're all smart. They don't just toss out those classic, awful chirps; they're creative. You have to turn your head on the bench to laugh sometimes when you hear them. It's exciting to watch these kids."
Let's meet the Sask Boys, with comments from Coach Jeff Borse:
#24 // CONNOR BEAR // 5'8" 147LBS // WHITEWOOD, SK // FORWARD
"Connor Bear was with our U15s last year and he's back for another year. He plays the game the right way. He's very physical, he has skill, he can skate the puck and he's one of the leaders that we look to. Part of his role is to show our new guys how the RINK plays the game. We want to play with skill, but we're also going to finish checks, we're going to be on the right side of pucks and we're going to compete for everything that we can get. He's the poster boy for that. "He's also coming out of his shell. He was a shy kid when he arrived and had some challenges last year, both on and off the ice. This year, he's more comfortable and he's starting to be a leader for us. He's one of the kids you want to continue watching for an entire game because he's so exciting. One shift, he'll go at a guy and blow him up and on the next shift, he'll dangle that guy and go in and score. He's a great package and we want to build on that."
#42 HUDSON BREHAUT // 5'7" 140LBS // WHITEWOOD, SK // FORWARD
"Hudson Brehaut has come to us from Notre Dame Academy in Wilcox. His story is a bit different. He is very close with the Bear family and they were in contact during the summer. His family talked with the Bears and said, 'We're looking for new opportunities. What do you think of the RINK and is there a spot for Hudson?" The Bear family seemed to be happy about all that so they reached out and we got that paper signed really quick. "Having Hudson come in, it's been a learning experience for him because coming from Notre Dame, we do things a bit differently here. He's starting to learn and the best part is that he's billeting with Bearsie. Connor has taken him under his wing to help him see what daily life is like around here - competing in the gym and competing on the ice. "Hudson is a very good skater and he's starting to find the physical edge to his game. The biggest aspect of his game that we're working on is the mental side of the game-staying focused, staying within the details of the game. He can shoot the puck, he can move the puck and he can skate the game, so he's going to be a good player."
#26 KALEB DEWAR 5'4" 120 // LANIGAN, SK // FORWARD
"Kaleb Dewar came to us from the Prairie Hockey Academy, another academy we see in our league, that's located just outside Moose Jaw. He came to our evaluation skate in the spring. He's about 5-foot-5, but he's a ball of energy. There is no place on the ice he won't go. He'll get his nose dirty. He'll make sure guys know he's around. "He fits into the program extremely well. He's a kid who came from another program solely based on our evaluation process. The ID camps we run. And he's not related to Connor Dewar (from The Pas, Man., now with the Minnesota Wild), but he plays the same way. "He can skate the game really well. We're going to work on his puck handling and shooting skills, but more precisely, when to shoot and when to handle. He fits in like a glove. All the guys love him. The coaches love him."
Scott Taylor | Game On Magazine https://gameonhockey.ca/
