Defensive work leads to all-star game

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Last season, just like this season, Ray Francis represented the Lebret Eagles at the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League all-star game. And that?s where the similarities end.

Last year the all-star selection brightened an otherwise dreary season from Francis, as the Eagles were mired in last place overall in the SJHL. With the 2000-01 Eagles cementing their hold on a playoff position, the all-star game is a fun break in a long, grueling, and yet enjoyable season.

?It?s always an honor to play in the all-star game,? says Francis, a product of Thunder Bay, Ont.?s minor hockey system. ?Fortunately it?s my second crack at the can and I?m really looking forward to it.?

He also looks forward to practices and game days at the Eagledome, the home arena for the Eagles in the Qu?Appelle Valley.

?As a Native player I love coming to play in front of Native people,? says Francis, a member of Wikwemikong First Nation, an hour outside of Sudbury, Ont. The SJHL all-star game and skills competitions were held during the first weekend of February in La Ronge.

Francis is also looking forward to the rest of the season, and the post-season.

?We?ve really picked it up from last year,? he says. ?We had 12 wins last season. This season we had that before Christmas time. We?re really gelling together as a team, and all of us are looking forward to the second half of the season.?

While Francis is one of three Eagles selected for the all-star game, he knows that many other players on the team have greatly contributed to the club?s good fortune.

?We?ve got a good core of players, especially after we brought in (Kevin) Shieve from Alberta. We?ve got a lot of veterans on defense. On the forward lines we?ve got guys like (fellow all-stars) Tyler Shantz and Brant Becker, and they?re not the only guys who can put the puck in the net.?

And that makes the home dressing room in the Eagledome a happy place, he adds.

?We?re loving it. We?re looking forward to getting into the playoffs and making some noise.?

And the Eagles may make the other 12 SJHL clubs reach for their earplugs. On their last game before the all-star break, the Eagles swamped the Sherwood (South) Division leaders, the Weyburn Red Wings, 6-2 in Weyburn.

The Eagles have had two different missions since the Star Blanket Cree Nation first iced the SJHL squad in 1994. Like the other clubs in the SJHL, they?re supposed to win games, win fans, and develop players for higher levels of hockey, such as major junior and the American college system, and maybe the professional leagues. But the Lebret Eagles are also developing First Nations? hockey players and being role models for the young people in Saskatchewan?s Native community.

Usually, the Eagles have about half of their 20-man roster made up of young Aboriginal men. This season, there are seven First Nations players such as Francis. In addition, the team boasts the only Aboriginal assistant coach in the SJHL, Charlie Keshane, from the Keesokoose First Nation near Yorkton.

?We?ve got a really good core of good players with a good attitude in the dressing room and everyone is really getting along,? says Francis.

After 50 games in the league?s 66-game schedule, the Eagles are in third place in the Sherwood (South) Division with a record of 23 wins, 21 losses, and six ties. The club rode a five-game winning streak into the all-star break ? their longest winning streak of the season.

Francis is third in scoring amongst SJHL defensemen, with seven goals and 32 assists for 39 points. He?s played in all 50 Eagles? games as of the all-star break.