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From Bomber enforcer to enforcing the law - Derek Chesney opens up

Former Flin Flon Bomber Derek Chesney has had an interesting journey from hockey enforcer to award-winning keeper of the peace. He currently works in the Cultural Relations Unit of the Saskatoon Police Service.
Derek Chesney visiting with the late Alvin Cote, a homeless man who was well-known in Saskatoon.
Derek Chesney visiting with the late Alvin Cote, a homeless man who was well-known in Saskatoon. Chesney received international recognition for a letter he wrote after Cote passed away in 2014.

Former Flin Flon Bomber Derek Chesney has had an interesting journey from hockey enforcer to award-winning keeper of the peace.

He currently works in the Cultural Relations Unit of the Saskatoon Police Service. His main job is to liaise with various religious, cultural and ethnic groups.

For most of his law enforcement career, Chesney walked the beat in the downtown, Broadway and Riversdale areas of Saskatoon. In 2014, he was honoured by Slatemagazine as their Most Valuable Cop in their first Crime Awards.

“I was honoured and humbled to be recognized for an article that I wrote after the passing of one of our well-known downtown street persons, an Salteaux man named Alvin Cote,” he says.

Although he grew in Melville, Chesney’s junior hockey career got started elsewhere in part because his father, Don, was the head coach of the hometown Millionaires.

He was told to go prove himself elsewhere. He started his rookie season with the now-defunct Lebret Eagles but was sent down to the junior B St. Louis Rivertown Rebels to develop.

In December 1993, then-Bombers head coach Norm Johnson offered him a midseason tryout. He joined the team for a road game in Battlefords.

Chesney tried to make an impression by crashing, banging, and dropping the gloves. He recalls starting a line brawl and having to be taken off by the linesmen so he wouldn’t jump into the Battlefords bench.

Chesney only spent part of the 1993-94 season in Flin Flon, but he greatly enjoyed his time with the Bombers. He remembers getting his first goal of his junior A career against his dad’s team and his father sending one of his tough guys out to battle him.

“I remember my days as a Bomber fondly and will always be a Bomber at heart,” he says.

After Chesney’s rookie campaign, he was traded to Melville before joining Humboldt the following season. In Humboldt, ashoulder injury forced him to split time between the Broncos and the junior B Canora Cobras to get back into shape.

After his junior career, Chesney became head coach and general manager of the Cobras, later being named head coach of the Dauphin Kings.

He joined the Saskatoon Police Service in 2008 and has been with them ever since.

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