Underlying impact of MSU role player Kent Walchuk

Minot Daily News

MINOT — The door swung open, and Kent Walchuk was set free. Unmarked and all alone at center ice, this was his moment to pay tribute to his late father. “I had just got out of the penalty box,” Walchuk recalled. “Brey Effertz made a huge save and I got a breakaway pass from Carey Morrison. I scored my first goal of the season, and it was the first goal I scored since my dad had passed. I will always remember that one.” Walchuk pointed to the heavens as his teammates converged on him to celebrate. Despite his struggle to score all season, Walchuk had a vision that this unforgettable goal was coming. “I took kind of a dumb penalty to start, and I was sitting in the box with like six seconds left with a faceoff in our end,” Walchuk said after the game. “I told Craig Fournier that I was going to get out and get a breakaway goal. And sure enough, the puck came right to me. I definitely called it, and I got witnesses. You can ask Craig, the penalty box guys. I called it.” Emotions ran high. “He was virtually in tears,” Minot State head coach Wade Regier said. “He did his salute in the air. It was pretty special.” Walchuk scored again in the third period of a 10-2 thrashing of Arizona State on Jan. 13, 2018, at Maysa Arena in Minot. His touching two-goal performance served as an admirable lasting memorial to his father, Randy Walchuk, who died Oct. 23, 2017, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Wearing the winged wheel Randy Walchuk was an avid admirer of Gordie Howe, a fellow Saskatchewan native and eventual legendary hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings. His fandom was instilled in Kent Walchuk at a young age. “The first picture I have of me at my house is me wearing a Detroit Red Wings shirt and I have a Detroit Red Wings hockey stick in my hand,” Walchuk said. “I barely even had my eyes open. So, my dad trained me well, right from birth, to be a Wings’ fan.” Walchuk was put on skates as soon as he could stand up. And, every winter, his dad would build an outdoor rink on their property in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This was their sanctuary. But, not everybody in the family was entirely on board. “My grandma and my mom didn’t really know if hockey was the right, safe choice for me,” Walchuk said. “But, as the years passed, it turned out to be the right one.” Although, as it turns out, they had valid reasons to be concerned. While trying to climb the Canadian junior hockey ranks, Walchuk suffered two significant concussions. “In juniors, I was more of a grinder — the tough guy — but I still put up points,” he said. “Then, my body started to take a toll on me. And my head. I had a couple of pretty bad concussions, and I was like, ‘I can’t be fighting every night. I can’t be running all over trying to hit guys because they’re going to come back and hit me harder.'” Walchuk continued: “I met with a couple of concussion specialists in Saskatchewan, and they said one more concussion and you’re likely done.” Walchuk didn’t have the size — ultimately filling out to be 5-foot-10, 185 pounds as a senior at Minot State — to be mixing it up, at least not all the time. Still, it took Walchuk a while before he finally got the memo. “In junior hockey, you were allowed to fight — that’s what got the fans excited and got everyone fired up,” Walchuk said. “But, college is different. You are wearing cages, and you can’t be doing that every game. My first year in Minot, I was in and out of the lineup. I was like, ‘Why am I trying to be this tough guy in a league that doesn’t even need them anymore?'” His linemate at the time, Blake Fournier, was in a similar situation. Another physical player who was searching for answers. “We both just kind of figured it out,” Walchuk said. “We were like, ‘We should maybe try scoring. It’s a lot more fun.'” Getting cut to hoisting a cup Walchuk’s journey to Minot State was a long one. He played for six different junior league hockey teams in four years from 2012 to 2016. “I am what hockey players refer to as a ‘suitcase’ hockey player,” Walchuk said. “If a team wants me that bad that they trade for me, or signs me — no matter where they are — I’ll give them my respect by going there.” Following a 10-game stint with the Calgary Canucks in the Alberta Junior Hockey League at the start of the 2013-14 season, Walchuk was released from the team. The out-of-town youngster went back home to Saskatoon and was forced to re-evaluate why he was traveling across the country. “I did everything I could, but things just didn’t work out,” Walchuk said. “They were looking for more older guys, and I didn’t fit in the lineup… I was kind of hurt. I was in the big city of Calgary, and now I was going back home. It was like, ‘Oh, now what? Is hockey really worth it? Can I really make a career out of this? Or get my education based off this?'” Walchuk decided to keep chugging along. A solid final junior hockey season and a playoff push with the Dryden Ice Dogs in the Superior International Junior Hockey League opened some doors. Not satisfied with any of the pay-to-play NCAA Division III offers he was receiving, Walchuk’s girlfriend Hailey Richards suggested Minot State. Richards, at the time, was a student at Minot State. “I didn’t even know there was a team there — I didn’t know much about the ACHA,” Walchuk said. “I looked into it and reached out to Wade (Regier).” Regier put Walchuk on hold, scouted him for the rest of the season, before offering him a spot on the team. “(Walchuk) was pretty relentless, and he actually came to visit me,” Regier said. “It was one of those things where a player shows he is really invested and wants to be here, then usually that’s a good sign. You could tell with his personality that he was going to find a way to get here.” Playing time was scarce when Walchuk arrived. The Beavers, one of the top-ranked teams in the ACHA, were loaded with talent. Walchuk didn’t get much ice time in the 28 regular-season games he played in his first two seasons. He also didn’t play at the national tournament both years. “He was grabbing water bottles and sticks, helping guys load the bus,” Regier said. “Had somebody got injured, he would have been in the lineup. But, he grinded and earned everything. More than that, he earned the respect of his teammates.” Walchuk got minutes when Minot State won the 2019 ACHA national title but didn’t register a point during the four-game postseason run. His main contributions remained off the ice as a happy-go-lucky teammate. This past season Walchuk played in every game, recording a career-high in points (21), goals (9) and assists (12). When assistant captain Connor Navrot went down with a season-ending injury, Walchuk was given an ‘A’ to put on his sweater. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic canceling the 2020 ACHA National Tournament, Walchuk lost his chance to truly shine on the big stage. “You feel disheartened for Kent because he was a kid who really put in his dues and didn’t get to see it come to fruition at the national tournament,” Regier said. “But his determination and type of character is the reason why he was a big part of our team.” Up in the air Walchuk has to complete one more semester of student teaching to finish up his elementary education degree. He plans to do so in the fall but isn’t sure about where yet: Minot or somewhere in Saskatchewan. The thought of hanging up the skates is complicated. “If I end up in Minot, I could potentially play that semester,” Walchuk said. “But, then it would be like, ‘Do I stretch this out to play a full year? Or just play the semester and be done at Christmas? Or do I not play hockey at all?'” The concern about possibly suffering that third concussion also lingers. “If this is the end, I’m OK with it,” Walchuk said. “I got my brain and my body intact still, luckily. It’s been a ride, but it has been worth it. If it comes to an end, then it comes to an end. I’m content with it.”