Hockey team gets a taste of international play

Page 16

The prospect of an international tournament, albeit just a three-team event, was enough to convince Blair Atcheynum to start playing hockey again.

Atcheynum is Cree and was born in Estevan. He played 12 years of professional hockey before retiring following the 2000-01 season.

During his professional career he played in a total of 232 National Hockey League games, enjoying stints with the Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks.

Atcheynum also toiled for various minor pro teams in the American Hockey League, International Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League.

Though he hung up his blades more than three years ago, Atcheynum decided to join the Mid-West Islanders, a Saskatchewan-based men's amateur club, this past December. That's because the Islanders had won the right to represent Canada at the Nagano Cup, a tournament held in January in Japan and featuring match ups between a Canadian team, the host Japanese national squad and a Division II squad from Russia's professional league.

"It was a great experience," Atcheynum said. "It was a wonderful opportunity. I had never experienced anything like that before. It convinced me to come back and play for this team."

The Islanders earned the right to represent Canada at the Nagano Cup by being the runners-up at the Allan Cup, the national senior men's championship, held last April in Saint-Georges, Que. The host Saint-George squad won the tournament, but the team wasn't allowed to go to Japan because it had registered as a semi-pro squad this season, competing in the Quebec Major Senior Hockey League. A Hockey Canada ruling stipulates it will only send an amateur team to the annual Nagano Cup.

Last year the Saskatchewan-based side was known as the Ministikwan Islanders and played its home contests on Island Lake First Nation. The franchise relocated about 80 kilometres south this season, changed its moniker to Mid-West Islanders, and is now toiling out of Paradise Hill.

The Islanders met some stiff opponents while in Nagano. The club was defeated 6-2 by Japan in an exhibition contest.

Japan then downed the Islanders 8-2 in their tournament game. The Russian squad then thumped the Islanders 9-2 in their outing.

Japan edged Russia 5-4 in the championship final.

Atcheynum said he was especially impressed with the Japanese side. "It's a pretty serious year for them," he said. "They're all professionals over there and have been training together for awhile. They were going to an Olympic qualifying tournament, to try and qualify for the next Olympics, right after the event."

Islanders' coach Pete Clayton said some undisciplined play from his charges resulted in their lopsided losses.

"We competed with them 5-on-5," he said. "But we naturally took some foolish Canadian penalties. That was the biggest downfall for us."

The Islanders surrendered four power play goals against Japan in their tournament match. And then the Russian team scored six goals versus the Islanders during their man-advantage situations.

Like Atcheynum, Clayton was also impressed with how the Japanese squad performed.

"They've really upgraded their game," he said.

Besides Atcheynum, the Islanders' roster for the Nagano Cup included one other former NHLer, centre Joel Prpic, who had brief stints with the Boston Bruins and Colorado Avalanche.

Prpic is not a regular member of the Islanders. He's currently playing with the Kukodo Lions of the Asian Ice Hockey League.

Martin Kariya, a younger brother of NHL star Paul Kariya, also joined the Islanders for the Nagano Cup. Martin Kariya is a member of Japan's Nikko Icebucks.

In total, the Islanders spent nine days in Japan and went on several sightseeing ventures.

"It was just awesome," Atcheynum said.

The Islanders are hoping to participate again in next year's Nagano

Cup. In order to do that, they'll have to qualify and win this year's Allan Cup tournaent, which is scheduled for April 18 to 24 in Lloydminster.