Growing up in rural Saskatchewan, Andrew Milne, Jeremy Reich and Patrick Marleau would marvel at the high-flying Swift Current Broncos, led by Joe Sakic and Sheldon Kennedy.
Those early days led to big dreams, summer camps and WHL stops for all three, as well as several summers of hockey school with the Broncos.
“I thought that was the highest level there was growing up. To have them talk to you, instruct you and teach you different tricks was fun,” said Marleau.
Reich and Marleau went on to become roommates with the Seattle Thunderbirds and both stepped up to the NHL, while Milne took another path through Scotland, eventually landing in Canmore to run the Eagles. He hired Reich last year as an assistant coach, and this year invited Marleau, a three-time NHL all-star and Olympic gold medalist, to help coach the inaugural Canmore Eagles Hockey School.
“I’m good friends with Milne. He came up with a proposal for me to come up here. I have three boys, a six, four and two-year-old, so it’s a nice little vacation as well as fun at camp. It’s great to come back to Canada and also see some family,” Marleau said.
As the San Jose Sharks’ all-time leading goal scorer and point getter, Marleau has much to teach the 60 young hockey school attendees. But he said the most important factor is enjoying themselves.
“Play hard and have fun. That was the most important part when I was a kid and still is now for myself. Just being around the camp takes me back to when I was a kid. I’m using that selfishly to help my game,” Marleau said.
Milne said the hockey school has a good, intimate group, which means each athlete is getting lots of time with the instructors, which also includes Eagles alumni Luke Philp and Kris Foucault, who played last season for the Minnesota Wild.
“I think it’s going really well. We’re able to get our numbers to where we wanted. We have a great instructor to player ratio,” said Milne.
Milne said having Marleau at the camp is a great way for the NHL star to give back to the sport and spend time with friends. It also helps the Eagles give back to the Canmore hockey community.
“Patrick is a good friend of (Reich) and mine. He’s a family man. He understands the impact he has on the kids and for him, it’s a great way to give back to the game, help out his friends and the kids.”
A recent study commissioned by Hockey Canada and Bauer Hockey Inc. found that 90 per cent of Canadian families don’t enroll their children in the sport. A survey of 875 non-hockey playing families shows they didn’t play hockey because it wasn’t fun, was too time consuming, unsafe and too costly.
Marleau said he was surprised by the results
“Obviously it’s something we have to work on and get kids back into it. I still have my friends from growing up and playing hockey. It’s great exercise, so there are lots of reasons to play,” Marleau said.
Wowed by Canmore’s scenery, he keeps tabs on the Eagles throughout the NHL season, keen to see how his friends are doing with the AJHL club.
So is there a future for Marleau as owner of the Canmore Eagles?
“You never know,” he said.
