I knew the name of Jim McKenzie when I moved to southeast Saskatchewan in 2000.
Back when I was young and had time to watch endless hockey, I knew that Jim McKenzie was an NHL tough guy, a player who made it to the NHL in large part due to his fighting acumen, but had been good enough to play in the league for a decade and take a regular shift.
It wasn’t until I moved here that I began to know more about him. Son of an RCMP officer. Born in Gull Lake. Moved to southeast Saskatchewan at a young age. Played most of his developmental hockey in Carlyle.
He had just joined the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2000. The Devils were the defending Stanley Cup champions. So obviously he was more than just a goon if the champs opted to sign him.
The Devils lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final in 2001, but they would get one more shot at a title. Two years later, they won the Stanley Cup in a Game 7. Jim McKenzie was a Stanley Cup champion.
The celebration in Carlyle when McKenzie brought the cherished trophy home a couple of months later was pretty memorable. A parade rolled through the town with McKenzie hoisting the cup. People lined both sides of Main Street. And then there was the opportunity for the average person to have their photo taken with Lord Stanley’s trophy.
McKenzie has also long been a well-respected person in the game. He’s articulate. Insightful. He was what reporters call a “media darling” – the guy they turned to for comments. People outside the game might be surprised to know that the guys who were the enforcers were often the best interviews.
It’s no surprise that McKenzie remained in the game after he retired, first as a coach and then as a scout. Quietly, when the Vegas Golden Knights were started, McKenzie was hired as a scout. If he wasn’t employed by teams, he likely could have had a lengthy career as a broadcaster.
On June 13, McKenzie added a second Stanley Cup to his resumé, winning the championship with the Vegas Golden Knights after they defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3. He was on the ice for the victory celebration, and for the second time, he was able to hoist the Stanley Cup on the ice after the final game of the NHL season.
It really is incredible that a town the size of Carlyle has produced four NHLers: McKenzie, Brenden Morrow, and Cale and Haydn Fleury. McKenzie has two Stanley Cup rings. Morrow won everything in hockey except for the Stanley Cup. The Fleury brothers are still writing their hockey stories.
The community has also produced many players who have played at the minor pro, collegiate and junior levels, athletes who have played in Europe, and, most importantly, thousands of kids who have just found a love for hockey while playing in Carlyle.
Sometimes you see a young player on the ice and you think he’s destined for greatness. I’d like to think that if I was in southeast Saskatchewan in 1994-95, when Morrow had more than 100 goals and 180 points in his final season of U15 hockey, that I would have seen his potential at that time.
But Morrow was also a tremendous worker. It’s why he became a world champion and an Olympic gold medallist.
And that’s the key: hard work. Yes, talent is important, and you don’t get to the NHL without it, especially in the modern game. But you have to bring that work ethic to the table.
The can’t-miss kids have that work ethic. But so do guys like McKenzie, Morrow, the Fleurys, Oxbow’s Tanner Jeannot and Estevan’s Brayden Pachal. The latter was also on the Knights’ championship team.
You can be certain that people throughout the game were thrilled for McKenzie last week when he won the Stanley Cup for the second time.
