CARLYLE - To the more veteran hockey fans in southeast Saskatchewan, the Whitfield family is synonymous with that sport and the Observer recently caught up with Carman Whitfield for an interview.
In the 1960s and the 1970s, Whitfield was one of the premier senior hockey players in the southeast. He played junior B hockey in Carnduff, and in the late ‘60, helped the Alameda Aces win the Southeast Hockey League before they joined the Big Six as the Moose Creek Beavers.
Whitfield played with the Beavers for nearly 10 seasons and his accomplishments are noted in the “History of the Big Hockey League 1959-1999,” compiled over 20 years ago by Craig Kickley.
From 1971 to 1976, Whitfield was the team’s top scorer and finished in the league’s top 10 for six straight years. He won the 1972-73 Big Six Hockey League scoring race.
Said Whitfield: “Nearly 50 years ago, the southeast fielded some great teams and I was honoured to have played against some of the best, Wayne Duncombe and Jake Steeves from Carnduff, Garnie Currie of Wawota, Dennis Toms of Redvers, and the Jarvis brothers from Carlyle. A lot of good times and a lot of great memories.” As a footnote, his father Grant is a past-president of the Big Six Hockey League.
Whitfield now focuses on his family and five of his grandchildren play competitive hockey. Jayden Davis, who is 22, is a left-winger with the University of Regina Cougars. Cody Davis, 19, also plays left wing and is with the Estevan Bruins. Kiley Davis, 17, is a defenceman for the Weyburn U18 AAA Gold Wings female team out of Weyburn. Another granddaughter, 17-year-old Caitlyn Heunison, is a left-winger for the U18 AA team in Okotoks, Alta. And 15-year-old Colton Whitfield plays high school hockey in Providence, R.I.
Whitfield travels to and watches a minimum of three games per week and flies to Rhode Island annually. In Providence, his son Trent is an assistant coach of the Boston Bruins’ American Hockey League team.
Trent, now 44, played 194 games in the NHL with the Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues and Boston.
Hockey has been a big part of Whitfield’s life and he lives and breathes the sport, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One of his fondest memories occurred in January 1997, when he and his father Grant travelled to Geneva, Switzerland. It was there that Trent helped Canada win that year’s World Junior Hockey Championship.
Now retired and 70 years of age, Whitfield moved to Manor Bay in Carlyle two years ago. He previously farmed and lived 10 kilometres northwest of Alameda.
In addition to grain farming, he also had a cow-calf operation and a PMU barn of 100 horses back in the 1980s.
Whitfield has four children and 10 grandchildren, with five boys and five girls.
Six months ago, his father Grant turned 100 years old and now lives in Regina. Every day, he walks his one-year-old Norwegian elk hound, Beau, for over two miles up and down the streets of Carlyle. While still a puppy at heart, Beau now weighs over 65 pounds.
Out walking the dog, or watching a game at the rink, be sure to stop Whitfield and say hello.
