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Seven Silvertips hail from Canada’s “Friendly” plains province

Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 9, 2017

By Jesse Geleynse Herald Writer

Connor Dewar isn’t the only Everett Silvertips player headed back home for Friday’s game against the Brandon Wheat Kings. In fact there are seven Manitoba natives on the Everett roster and all but one are going to Brandon for the first time Friday as a WHL player.

That lone exception would be overage defenseman Lucas Skrumeda, a Winnipeg native who is in his fourth season with the Tips.

“I’ve only been there once when I was 18,” Skrumeda said. “I think about the player I am now and the person I am now, and a lot has changed, but it’s definitely going to be nice to get on the road trip and head home.”

In addition to Skrumeda and Dewar (The Pas), other Manitoba-born Tips include goalie Mario Petit and forward Bradly Goethals (both from Ile-Des-Chenes), Brandson Hein (Winnipeg), Montana Onyebuchi (Dugald) and Devin Skoleski (St. Adolphe).

Each player is expecting dozens of family and friends to be in attendance tonight as well as throughout the road trip.

“I’m pretty excited to play well in front of them and hopefully we do well,” Skoleski said. “I wasn’t really aware of how (the schedule) worked when I first got here, but now I do and it’s pretty exciting to head back there to play.”

As for why there are so many players from Manitoba – a province with about 1.3 million people – on the Everett roster?

“I think it speaks more to how big hockey is in Canada,” Skrumeda said. “Hockey is the main sport kids want to play. There are so many rinks and a lot of ice time available for kids to hone their skills and that’s why we produce so many players.”

The team left Everett on Tuesday. They practiced in Swift Current and also paid their respects at the roadside memorial to the four Broncos players who died three decades ago in a tragic bus accident.

Perry Bergson, who covers the Wheat Kings for the Brandon Sun, had some interesting facts for Friday’s game.

From his story:

“The last time the home team won a game between the two teams, who play just once a year, was on Nov. 11, 2008 when the Wheat Kings beat the Silvertips 6-3.

Since then, Everett (31-11-8-2) has won the last three games in Brandon, and five of six overall in Manitoba after joining the league for the 2003-04 season. Brandon, meanwhile, has won the last four games at Xfinity Arena.”

The Tips also practiced Thursday and according to Twitter participated in some team bonding by going curling.

Following Friday’s game the Tips play Saturday at Moose Jaw.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.

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