Every hockey player, or athlete for that matter, has a special coach they will always remember as they move up the ranks of their sport. One of Saskatchewan's best hockey coaches, Mike Babcock, was in Saskatoon and one local hockey player had the chance to skate with the famous coach.
Babcock is the first coach in history to win a triple gold - he led the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in 2008, Team Canada to a World Championship in Prague in 2009 and an Olympic Gold Medal in 2010.
Babcock was in his hometown of Saskatoon July 16 to 18 to celebrate his triple gold accomplishment and raise money for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan.
One of the events of the weekend was a skills session and scrimmage at the Credit Union Centre with the coach.
Who are the players who have the once in a lifetime opportunity to skate some of Babcock's drills? The players were introduced as "22 of the top bantam prospects from around the province," and the Battlefords own Eric Pfeifer was one of those 22 players.
Pfeifer played with the Battlefords Bantam AA Barons last season and will likely latch on with a Midget AAA team this season.
First Pfeifer and the other players had a pre-practice with Dave Adolph and another Saskatchewan Huskies coach to learn the drills they would do on the ice with Babcock July 17. The drills were some of Babcock's own as well as some from the playbook of Scotty Bowman, who was also on hand for the weekend's events.
Other NHL coaches and players were around for the weekend to celebrate Babcock's accomplishments and make the event a major fundraiser. Former Battlefords North Star coach Todd McLellan was also scheduled to be around on the weekend, as he was an assistant under Babcock and is now head coach for the San Jose Sharks.
Along with the on ice session, Pfeifer took part in he was also invited to a gala evening, where they were treated like special guests the entire weekend.
Pfeifer wasn't the first hockey player with ties to Battlefords to share the ice with famous coach. Babcock coached goalie Jody Lehman for two seasons (1991/92 and 1992/93) in Moose Jaw in the WHL. After five WHL seasons Lehamn went on to play East Coact Hockey and eventually played in Europe for eight years and has since moved back to the Battlefords.
Babcock also coached former AAA Star Brad Schell in Spokane for one game during the 1999/00 season when Schell was a prospect with the Chiefs.
