By Chris Jaster
The Cypress Cyclones’ one-year leave of absence from the Prairie Junior Hockey League is having a large impact on most of the team’s players.
Although 26 players were drafted by other teams in a dispersal draft, it seems like the end of the junior B franchise — even if it’s just for a year — will mean the end of their junior hockey careers.
“I’ve talked to all the kids. Most of them are unsure if they’re going to go,” said Blaine Stork, who coached the Cyclones to a 9-26-7 record last season.
“Before they had the draft, I talked to the kids to try to figure out who was going to school and all that to try and give that idea of who would be in Saskatoon and Regina. Those teams did pick those players and it’s up to them to convince them to play, but for the most part, most of them told me when they went away to school they weren’t going to play. It remains to be seen if guys change their mind once the snow flies.”
Tanner Jones is one of those players who won’t be joining his new team. The 19-year-old defenceman is planning to take carpentry at SIAST in Moose Jaw this fall, and he doesn’t see himself in a Fort Knox jersey next season.
“I talked to a manager and they want me to go out there, but I’m going to school this fall and I don’t know if I’ll have time,” he said. “I’ll only be (in Moose Jaw) for seven weeks and then I’ll have to come back and work and get more hours in. I might not have time to play in the PJHL. I’m supposed to go to Fort Qu’Appelle and I don’t want to drive six hours to play hockey.”
Jones, however, said he would have played for the Cyclones.
The Cyclones held a meeting on June 17 to discuss the future of the club. The organization needed some of its executive positions to be filled, but it failed to find the man-power to keep the team afloat.
The league was informed at its June 27 meeting the Cypress team would take a leave of absence from the league.
Rylan McKinnon, a Maple Creek native who played for the Cyclones, found the news quite disheartening.
“It’s kind of upsetting. Maple Creek worked hard to get that team,” he said. “It’s just a leave of absence so there’s a possibility that it may come back, but it was kind of shocking. I guess it happens.”
McKinnon, however, is one of five players the Cyclones protected. Should Cypress return to the PJHL, McKinnon, Jones, Chad Trapp, Don Schmaltz and Adam Fullerton will have the opportunity to return to their hometown team.
There isn’t any guarantee, however, that any of these players will return if the team doesn’t completely fold, especially since most of the players aren’t sure if they want to play junior B hockey next season with a different team.
Stork, however, isn’t as concerned about potential players in two years’ time, he’s just focused on making sure the team returns to the ice for the 2011-12 season.
“It’s too bad (we had to take the year off). We’ve got five years in with the club and hoped it continued, but hopefully in the long run this is the way to go with taking a year and away we go,” he said. “There’s a group working to try to put some people together and run it next year.”