Morgan Cey used his two seasons with the Flin Flon Bombers as a springboard for a successful college career and four seasons of pro hockey.
In his final year as a pro, the netminder suited up for the Central Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles in Fort Collins, Colo.
The Wilkie, Sask., product now makes the community his home. Cey is married with three children. He runs a branch of the Morris Interactive consulting firm. His brother Matthew is Morris Interactive’s CEO.
Cey suited up for the Bombers from 1999 to 2001. He was the SJHL MVP in his final season and loved his time in Flin Flon.
“I think it always starts with your billet family,” Cey said. “I lived with Kim and Sherry McConnell and they took me in as one of their own. I felt comfortable at home and that allowed me to go do my thing on the ice. Marc Milburn, Arland Eliason and myself were three wide-eyed rookies that stuck together, and that friendship really helped as we came into a veteran club that was somewhat established.”
Those days in Flin Flon played an instrumental role in Cey’s life.
“It enabled me to establish myself as a hockey player and I was fortunate enough to get noticed by a US college and got a scholarship,” he said. “It was a huge opportunity and it all started with the Bombers. Larry Wintoneak and Blaine Sautner were the coaches then, and they gave me lots of playing time and relied on me. It really instilled confidence in me.”
Cey earned a scholarship to the prestigious University of Notre Dame. He said he really grew up at the Indiana-based institution.
“I was very young when I first got there and I was sort of forced to grow up since I really was on my own,” he said. “I had to balance a school schedule with the demands of being a hockey player. I had some wonderful teammates that took me under their wing when I first arrived at Notre Dame, and that made a huge difference.”
The sociology major was Notre Dame’s Freshman of the Year. After four seasons, he signed with the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. He spent four seasons in the minors with the American Hockey League’s Norfolk Admirals and Springfield Falcons, the ECHL’s Johnstown Chiefs and Mississippi Sea Wolves, and the CHL’s Eagles.
Cey competed for Canada in the 2005 Spengler Cup, an annual invitational tournament in Switzerland.
After his retirement, he was twice signed as an emergency backup for the Eagles. As well, he was an assistant coach for a couple seasons for the squad, which moved to the ECHL.
