YORKTON - The Yorkton Junior Terriers are celebrating 50 years in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League this season.
To mark the milestone Yorkton This Week is digging into its archives and pulling out a random Terrier-related article from the past five decades of reporting on the team, and will be running one each week, just as it originally appeared.
This feature will appear weekly over the entire season in the pages of The Marketplace.
Week #21 comes from March 20, 1996.
Neil Schell still has a spot on the Yorkton Terriers bench, but now he’s wearing a civilian suit rather than the captain’s ‘C’ as he has throughout the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
“It’s really tough right now, now that we’re into the playoffs,” said Schell, who was sidelined when an injury forced the removal of a kidney just days before the end of the regular season.
Schell said being on the bench has been a big help in adjusting to the fact he can’t play.
“It has helped being around the guys, and on the bench … being there to bang gloves after a good play,” he said.
It was also a morale boost when the team brought the SJHL South Division championship banner to his hospital room.
“They hung it up in my room. That meant a lot,” said Schell.
Of course being a local kid on the Terriers meant a lot to Schell, even before the injury.
“It’s probably been the best three years of my life, along with winning the Maller championship (Schell was a member of Air Canada Cup Midget AAA champions),” he said.
As for the injury which ended Schell’s SJHL career, he said it was just a freak accident.
“I went to hit a guy and he moved. I ran into (teammate) Lee Rusnak. It was a harmless looking hit,” said Schell.
“I just felt like I was winded. It didn’t feel that severe.”
Schell skated back to the bench, but suddenly felt sort of sick. Team doctor Krishna Vittala suggested it might be a bruised back or kidney.
“It started to hurt through the stomach and down into the groin,” he said.
Schell spent the third period in the dressing room, and after the game was diagnosed with a torn kidney.
“Because of my age they tried to repair it. They (doctors) said if I had been older they would have just removed it,” said Schell. “They thought they might be able to save it.”
For about a week it looked as though doctors had repaired the damage successfully, but then the kidney started to bleed.
“So they went back in,” said Schell.
While now he has accepted it, at the time it was a real blow.
“I was up here,” he said slicing the air above his head. “The I just came down. Emotionally it was really hard to deal with it.”
The good news is Dr. Jae Choi has told Schell he can lead a normal life, including hockey.
The question now is what hockey options are open to the 20-year-old.
Like most SJHL players, Schell was hoping for an American college scholarship, but the injury will keep him out of the playoffs and his final chance to impress scouts.
“Right now it doesn’t look too promising,” he admitted. “Nothing was solid before and this just sort of adds to it.”
But Schell isn’t lamenting the possible lost opportunity, pointing out there are other options, including ending his hockey and concentrating on education.
“I’m really uncertain what I want to do right now. When I feel a little better I’ll make some decisions,” he said.
Doctors expect it will be at least six weeks – Schell hopes it will be sooner – before he can skate again. At that time, he’ll have a better idea whether his future will include hockey.
Schell said playing hockey in Europe, or in the Canadian college ranks, are also possibilities.
“The doctors said to get lots of rest. That’s what I’m going to do, that and hang out at the rink. When I can see what I can do, then I’ll decide.”
Until then, Schell said he’ll stick with his teammates for as far as they go, and, he added, the team has its sights set on the Royal Bank Cup finals in Melfort later this spring.
