Watch above: Brett Stovin is lacing up the skates and pulling on the jersey for the Saskatoon Blades for the final time this weekend. Kim Thue looks back on Stoven’s WHL career.
SASKATOON – After spending his entire junior hockey career, which is parts of five seasons, wearing a Saskatoon Blades jersey, Brett Stovin will be playing his final two games in the organization this weekend. Those two games will carry a lot of meaning and emotion.
“You’ve been somewhere for so long and you’ve put in so much heart, time and hard work into one organization and when it’s coming to an end it’s pretty tough to think about,” an emotional Stovin said earlier this week.
“It’s going to be one of those nights on Friday that’s pretty tough and then Saturday being the last game of my career will be another one of those nights where you just kind of got to suck it up and get through and then reflect afterwards.”
Stovin and the Blades will miss the playoffs for a second straight season but as his own Western Hockey League (WHL) career winds to an end, the team captain’s character continues to come to forefront as he remains focused on leading his teammates.
“There is different ways that you can use your leadership at this point in time,” insisted Stovin. “When I was talking before the game in Brandon (on Friday) I got a little choked up and you could see in their (teammates) eyes how much it affected them.
“They know how hard it is for me now. Letting them know how hard it is and how fast it goes by; that’s what you can use as leadership now.”
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As Stovin begins to reflect on his junior career and just how quickly it has gone by, he recalls what it was like from day one after getting drafted in fifth round in 2009.
“I remember my first camp, some of my first skates and even my first pre-season game out in P.A.,” recalls the 20-year-old Stony Mountain, Man. product. “I remember what I was thinking. I remember just seeing all the big guys and saying ‘how am I going to keep up with these guys?'”
Over 270 games later, Stovin has seen it all heading into his final weekend as a junior hockey player.
“I was 14 years old playing my first game, just a little kid. I’ve been through so much here. The Memorial Cup season. The winning seasons. The season we won the league and then got swept in playoffs. Losing seasons. There is just so much to reflect on and so much to think about.”
In Strovin’s first 191 career games with the Blades, he tallied 38 goals. This season, Stovin has lit the lamp a team 28 times.
The Blades captain will try to crack 30 this weekend during a home and home against Medicine Hat to end his WHL career.
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