The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Walker Wintoneak of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades knows that in order for his hockey team to reach the Memorial Cup in May, it may have to get through the Brandon Wheat Kings in the playoffs first. Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., Wintoneak and his family moved to Flin Flon where he played most of his minor hockey. Wintoneak, 20, sits second on the team in scoring with 14 goals and 32 points and is one of the main reasons why the Blades sit in first place in the East Division Ð five points ahead of the second-place Wheat Kings (after Brandon's 7-2 win Dec. 2). "I think it's just confidence more than anything," said Wintoneak. "I'm confident with the puck and we have a good team with all four lines contributing. It helps when you have all four lines helping out." Listed at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, Wintoneak says during his minor hockey days, his teams would make their way to Brandon for tournaments and would try to fit in a Wheat Kings game if there was one on the schedule. "For me, Brandon was the only Manitoba (hockey) team to watch," said Wintoneak. "Then when you grow up and with me being part of the Blades, they're an arch-rival now." Listed by the Blades, Wintoneak played for the Swan Valley Stampeders of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for a year before suiting up for his first year with the Blades in 2006-2007. After two mediocre seasons, where he scored 10 and nine goals respectively, Wintoneak had a breakout season last year, netting 31 goals. With this being his last season with the Blades, Wintoneak says he's unsure as to where he wants to continue his career. He hired an agent recently in hopes of turning pro next season. "Hopefully I can play professionally somewhere," said Wintoneak. "If something happens and if it's a good opportunity, I'll take it, but if not, I definitely wouldn't be opposed to going to school somewhere either." Wintoneak says he knows a number of current Wheat Kings, including co-captain Matt Calvert. He says he played summer hockey with Calvert in the past and always gets excited to play the team from the Wheat City. "We want to be the best and to get to the Memorial Cup we have to win the league and we might have to go through Brandon to get there. Brandon is one of the top teams; they have some really good players. But we're just going to take it game by game and we'll see what happens." Asked if he and Calvert ever do a little trash talking on the ice, Wintoneak replied, "Yeah, we do a little."
