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Article is from the May 19th issue of The Carillon.
Travis Hamonic
The 6’0, 195lb native of St. Malo, MB was a member of the gold medal wining team Canada Under-18 team in Kazan, Russia. Hamonic is a key contributor on the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors.
Kathy Willens / the associated press Islanders defenceman Travis Hamonic (3) duels with Jets left-winger Kenndal McArdle on Thursday night.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- The business of pro sports can be difficult to understand at the best of times -- NBA owners and players squabbling, NFL owners and players squabbling then kissing and making up, franchises threatening to relocate and so on -- but just imagine attempting to make sense of it all as a six-year-old.
And so it was for a young Travis Hamonic back in 1996 when the Winnipeg Jets pulled up stakes and headed for Arizona. The details and reasoning for the move meant little. All he knew then was that his favourite team and his favourite player would no longer be calling Manitoba home.
Fast forward to 2011 and Hamonic, now a blossoming star playing defence for the New York Islanders, is about to take the ice against a team he idolized before they vamoosed.
"That's the team I grew up watching," said Hamonic. "I was in love with Keith Tkachuk... I had his jersey and all the Jets' paraphernalia growing up. I remember going to the Jets' rally. I remember our family donating money to try and keep the Jets in the city, as many families did. I remember not really understanding what was going on when the Jets left because I was only six, but understanding it was something big and as you grow up you start to grasp what really happened.
"As you get older you go to Bomber games or Moose games and you hear the 'Go Jets Go' chants everywhere you go and you start to realize what the team meant to the city. I think everyone back in the community of Winnipeg is pretty excited and as a Winnipegger I think it's really good for the city."
What the Jets' return has also done is open up a flood of memories for Hamonic. His mother Lisa was in attendance for Thursday's game at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum against the Jets. And his dad Gerald, who died when Travis was 10 from a heart attack, would have loved a moment like this.
"Growing up I remember going to a lot of games with my brother and my dad," he said. "That's something, with my dad not being here any more... those are fond memories me and my brother have together now. I remember going to a hockey tournament when I was eight years old and they had a Phoenix jersey up for silent auction. I was doing anything I possibly could to make sure that I got that jersey. I don't know if my dad won it, or outright bought it for me. I still got that back at home. Since dad isn't here anymore it's another special memory I have to cherish."
A second-round draft pick of the Islanders in 2008, Hamonic's game improved dramatically last year after getting called up from the AHL. He had five goals -- the first coming against Ondrej Pavelec -- and added 21 assists in 62 games with the Islanders. And listening to Isles' head coach Jack Capuano, it's easy to understand why so many believe he'll be a mainstay on the blue-line for eons.
"The thing that impressed me most about him last year was his character and his maturity," Capuano said. "He finished the year strong and went into the summer not thinking, 'OK, I'm going to be right back on this team next year.' He made a point to come into camp and make it tough on the coaches that he's not going to go back to Bridgeport (the AHL affiliate), he's going to stay here. He has that attitude. He's a student of the game. He watches video constantly, every day, and as a young guy he's very vocal. His leadership qualities, for a young guy, are pretty special."
ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 4, 2011 C3
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David Hochman - one of the top 10 mushers in the world
He'd just failed Grade 7 and his parents were getting divorced. The 13-year-old boy channelled his strife into love for a Samoyed sled dog he purchased at Festival du Voyageur.
He bought the dog to pull newspapers on his paper route. With money from delivering the Winnipeg Tribune, he purchased another dog. He trained the dogs to pull him on his toboggan. Then he purchased another dog.
Hochman was on his way to becoming a future top-flight musher.
Hochman beat world-renowned sled dog racer Buddy Streeper on the second day of the two-day race at Grand Rapids, 400 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Streeper is one of the top two racers in the world, along with the man the sled racing fraternity simply calls "the Swede" -- Egil Ellis, who now resides in Alaska.
Streeper still won the two-day, 34-mile race with a better overall score, but Hochman captured the racing world's attention. His phone rang off the hook with congratulatory calls from across Canada.
"Dave is one of the top 10 mushers in the world," said Robert Peebles, a sled dog racer from near Edmonton, Alta. Not only is he very good, said Peebles, but Hochman makes a living off the sport. "There are only a handful of mushers who make any money on it," said Peebles.
To which Hochman concedes it's not the greatest of livings -- for all the time he puts into it, it would amount to a meagre hourly wage -- but it lets him pursue his passion. He also has commercial sponsors Tuffy's Pet Food and Prairie Dog Supply Company in East Selkirk. He works summers at St. Malo Provincial Park.
Hochman is an anomaly on the sled dog racing circuit. Most of the big players come from families where fathers and grandfathers raced sled dogs. That holds true for Streeper, and for the Cook family of Saskatchewan -- father, Raymond, or son, Kevin, are perennial winners of The Pas Trappers' Festival world championship. In Cross Lake, the Garrioch family of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch are one of the dominant sled racing families.
But Hochman's father couldn't tell a dog sled from a steam engine. Hochman had to start from scratch.
He's also an anomaly in that he's not from the north or from the country. He grew up in St. Boniface. After his parents divorced, Hochman grasped onto the Francophone heritage of his mother, Corinne, a Leblanc, and the Festival du Voyageur sled races. "The Festival du Voyageur is a big part of my heritage," he said.
Several people mentored him, including Winnipeg musher Larry Tallman, who at the time owned Princess Auto with his brother, Bob. Larry now runs a large animal-feed business in Alaska. "Larry did more than teach me. He was like a brother," said Hochman. Today Hochman tries to mentor youth the same way.
"We're such an underground sport. We all know who won The Pas championship in 1928 and the Olympic gold medal in 1932 but no one else does," Hochman said.
The answer to both questions is Manitoba's legendary Emile St. Godard and his lead dog, Toby. Sled dog racing was a demonstration sport in the 1932 Olympics at Lake Tahoe when St. Godard captured gold. A jealous rival later poisoned his dog.
St. Godard was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame just last year. A stuffed Toby, standing in a proud pose, is in the Sam Waller Museum in The Pas.
Hochman loves being with the dogs, the camaraderie with other mushers and whisking along the frozen open tundra at speeds of "about 20 miles per hour. When you're standing on the back on two-inch-high runners, it feels more like you're going 40 miles per hour," he said. "The dogs don't make any noise when they run, just the sound of the sled skimming over the snow."
Near St. Malo, 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg, he trains his dogs on a 23-kilometre trail, thanks to the permission of five landowners. He keeps a kennel of 47 sled dogs. Hochman's dogs are Alaskan husky crossed with greyhounds and German short-hair pointers.
" 'Good dog!' That's what they live for. Just to hear you say that. They want to please you so much," he said.
His "thrill of a lifetime" was racing the famous 10-day, 1,000-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Alaska. That's more a marathon race and Hochman excels at sprint races.
He placed second at The Pas Trappers Festival to perennial winner Kevin Cook of Saskatchewan. That was in a three-day, 35-miles-per-day race. But Hochman was the only racer still running his 10 dogs, a testament to the dogs and his handling of them, and won the third day handily. He and wife, Janet, and some friends stayed up the night before rubbing down the dogs.
He has competed many times in northern aboriginal communities, travelling as far as Lac Brochet. To Hochman, aboriginal communities are the mecca of sled dog racing. "I respect native people and I respect their culture," he said.
Hochman has been Manitoba champion three times. He has seven blue recycling bins full of trophies stored in his garage from races across North America. People interested in dog sledding can contact the Manitoba Dog Sledding Association.
Still, one of Hochman's greatest moments was winning the Festival du Voyageur sled dog race. It took him 19 years. Accepting the award, he choked up and, speaking in French, thanked his mother and just about everyone else on the planet. "It meant everything to me," he said.
But the festival has cancelled the sled dog race this year, saying it doesn't have money. To Hochman, that's a blow to both the sport and Francophone culture. "I'm really hurt by that," he said.
There's another reason he's hurt by the cancellation. It means for some kid out there the sled dog races can't be a beacon in a messed up world the way it once was for him.
Dan Lambert - International Hockey PlayerDan Lambert was born in the small French community St. Malo, Manitoba. It was always Dan’s dream to play in the NHL and he grew up playing his minor hockey in St. Malo, Steinbach and St. Anne before moving onto high school hockey at Warroad Minnesota. After one year in Warroad, Dan was approached to join the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League.
Making the club as a 16 year old, Dan played through the horrific bus tragedy of 1986 which claimed the lives of four of his teammates, Trent Kresse, Chris Mantyka, Brent Ruff and Scott Kruger. Dan’s proudest hockey memory remains overcoming the grief of that season and helping the Broncos reach the playoffs in their first season back in Swift Current. Dan’s most successful season with the Broncos was 88-89 when, as captain, they won the memorial cup and Dan was named the tournament MVP. As a defenseman, Dan was fourth in team scoring with 102 points in only 57 games and an amazing 28 points in just 12 post season games. Dan also represented Canada at the World Junior Championships in Alaska and his incredible season culminated in being drafted 108th overall by the Quebec Nordiques. Dan finished his career with the Broncos leaving as the franchise all-time assists leader with 244, a record which still stands today.
Dan’s professional career began in 1990, spending most of the year with Fort Wayne and Halifax before realizing his boyhood dream of his first NHL game against the Montreal Canadiens and alongside his boyhood idol Guy Lafleur, playing his final game. The following season was split between Halifax and Quebec where Lambert totaled six goals and nine assists in 28 NHL games. Dan’s highlights including playing alongside good friend Joe Sakic and recording a two point game and being named second star in the famed Montreal Forum.
That summer Dan was traded to the Winnipeg Jets and spent the season with their AHL affiliate. He started the 93-94 season in Helsinki, Finland and moved back to Fort Wayne of the IHL in October. The next year he signed with San Diego of the IHL and it was this organization in which Dan would enjoy his most successful seasons as a professional. Although the team relocated from San Diego, to Los Angeles to Long Beach, Dan was a team captain, IHL all-star for 4 seasons, captured two defense scoring titles and was named the IHL’s top defenseman in 1998. In 1999 Dan and his family headed for Germany where Dan had signed in the DEL (Deutsche Elite League) with Koln. Since then, Dan has also played for Krefeld, Hamburg and most recently Hannover. Dan helped Koln win the Spengler Cup in 1999 and enjoyed a championship season by helping Krefeld win their first DEL title in 51 years in 2003.
Internationally, Dan has represented Canada on several different occasions and has always been honored to wear the Maple Leaf. In 2005 Dan was bestowed the honor of Captain of Team Canada for the Deutschland Cup.
Dan has prided himself on a life in hockey built on passion, determination and skill which has kept him a perennial offensive threat and powerplay quarterback. Always a true professional, excellent teammate and leader on and off the ice, Dan has been a captain or assistant captain with eight different organizations throughout his junior and professional career and has always earned the respect of both teammates and opponents.
Dan’s wife Melanie is from Swift Current and they will always consider it to be their ‘home away from home’. Together, they have three daughters in Melissa, Julia and Brooke and enjoy spending their off-season in Scottsdale, AZ.
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