Megan Heyhurst, right, became the first woman to call an SJHL game on Friday. (Twitter/La Ronge Ice Wolves)

By Derek Cornet

making a mark

Ice Wolves mark final home game of 2021 with two SJHL firsts

Dec 20, 2021 | 12:46 PM

The La Ronge Ice Wolves continue to be a progressive force in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) with two firsts at Friday’s home game against the Flin Flon Bombers.

Alejandro Apud de la Fuente, 20, became the first Mexico-born player to participate in an SJHL regular season game. He was born and raised in Mexico City and he met Ice Wolves head coach Kevin Kaminski a few years ago in the United States when he played on a team Kaminski coached.

“It’s stories like that that make hockey the great game that it is,” Kaminski said. “Hats off to Alejandro for working his tail off on the ice, off the ice, late and day in and day out. He wants to get better in every aspect of the game, not only on the ice but he does an awesome job in the community off the ice as well.”

Also on Friday, Megan Heyhurst provided play-by-play for the game to become the first woman to call an SJHL game. Her colour commentary was provided by husband Mike Heyhurst.

“From all the people who I talked to, Mr. and Mrs. Heyhurst did an awesome job,” Kaminski said. “People from out of town who I talked to said they did a fantastic job. It was a great night all around with a couple first.”

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The La Ronge Ice Wolves have already earned a reputation for being one of the league’s most progressive teams. In January 2019, La Ronge’s Taylor Keast became the first female to suit up for a regular season SJHL game.

The Ice Wolves currently have 31 points out of 34 games with 14 wins and 20 losses. They are ranked eighth out of 12 teams with the same number of points as the Notre Dame Hounds.

There is only one regular season game left in 2021 for the Ice Wolves which will occur Dec. 31 in Flin Flon. The team will then host Flin Flon in La Ronge for a game on New Year’s Day.

“Now, we get a little bit of a break to rest because we haven’t had one game so far this year with the full lineup with all of our players,” Kaminski said. “We had an injury on defense on Saturday in Flin Flon, so he’s probably going to be out a month at least. It’s been a battle all year long with injuries, but we’re going to be looking before the deadline and we’re going to have to make some moves to bolster the lineup and defense and to have a good push down the stretch.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno