Even the most successful hockey players might learn a thing or two about determination from the Norman Bantam AAA Wolves.
The club is a logistical marvel, pulling players from five northern Manitoba communities spanning hundreds of kilometres in order to compete in a southern-dominated league.
“It’s a crazy amount of driving,” says Flin Flon’s Michelle Winton, a manager with the Wolves and parent of one of the adolescent players.
The Wolves are a first-year team – an experiment, actually – to gauge the feasibility of adding a northern squad to the Winnipeg Bantam AAA League.
The all-male league, open to players in grades 8 and 9 (generally ages 13 to 15), features 13 teams. The top teams this year are from Winnipeg and Brandon.
The Wolves play their home games in Flin Flon-Creighton and Thompson. Their nearest opponents? The Parkland Rangers, who are six hours away from Flin Flon in Grandview.
Expenses for the Wolves pile up quickly as rented vans transport the boys and a rented trailer-equipped truck hauls their equipment. Then there are the hotels and meals.
Yet thanks in part to fundraisers and sponsorships, the Wolves have persevered and will soon cap off their inaugural 36-game regular season.
Their on-ice success has been limited. They have just one win in 32 games heading into this weekend, when they play their final two home games of the season.
The Wolves’ record demands context, however, since other teams in the league have more talent to draw from by virtue of their populous geography.
When the Wolves held tryouts last summer, 60 boys vied for roster spots, with one-third of them making the team. By contrast, Winton says, something like 50 goaltenders alone tried out for Winnipeg-based teams.
The Wolves also have several first-year Bantam players, whereas Winnipeg teams only accept the more experienced second-year players.
And since the Wolves players are spread out between Flin Flon, The Pas, Thompson, Gillam and Churchill, they are able to hold few practices together.
Winton looks beyond the Wolves’ record in assessing their success.
“They’re having a good time and they’re learning a lot of skills,” she says.
Wolves head coach Rob Bilawka says the bulk of his players see the team as an opportunity to eventually graduate to higher levels of hockey, such as the SJHL or MJHL.
“As we move forward, they’re realizing that this isn’t minor hockey no more,” adds Bilawka. “It’s that step into that higher level.”
The Wolves include four Flin Flon area players in Sean Yaworski, Tanner Dutcawich, Jonah Winton and Rylan Potkonjak. A dozen players are from Thompson, with the remainder residing in The Pas, Gillam and Churchill.
While the Wolves entered the season on a trial basis, Bilawka is very confident the team will be back next season.
“They love it, they want us back,” he says of the league.
For now the Wolves are looking not to next season, but to their final two-game home stand of this campaign, scheduled for this weekend at the Creighton Sportex.
The Yellowhead Chiefs are in town tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 13 (6:30 pm) and again on Sunday, Feb. 14 (11 am). A small admission will be charged, with team officials encouraging fans to come out and show their support.
Joining Winton and Bilawka behind the bench, or behind the scenes, are assistant coach and safety rep Rob Winton (Flin Flon), assistant coaches Shawn Skinner and Murray Nychyporuk (Thompson), and co-manager Tami Bobesko (Thompson).
