Wings Take Flight: Linden Christian School back in Winnipeg high school hockey league
Grant Memorial Church's school is set to play its first Winnipeg High School Hockey League game since the 2019-2020 COVID season.
The Linden Christian School (LCS) Wings are making their return to the Winnipeg High School Hockey League (WHSHL) after a four-year hiatus.
The Wings, which had been in operation with the WHSHL for eight years prior to the 2019-2020 season, were forced to abandon its hockey program after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the city.
“Once we lost that momentum, it was hard to get back,” team manager Rod Bruinooge said in an interview Sept. 23 at Sam Southern Arena. “With COVID’s disruption, that was enough to cause the team to fold for multiple years.”
Once the WHSHL returned to action in the 2021-22 season after the previous season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Bruinooge says a lack of funding and player commitment prevented the Wings from jumping back in the league’s fold.
“COVID, I don’t think, had as big of an impact with other schools as it did with us because many of the city’s high schools have pretty big populations, whereas Linden’s group of high school students is not as big because it's a K-12 school,” said Bruinooge. “Without having something to look back on to attract kids and give parents the confidence that their son is going to be able to play in the fall, it was extremely hard to get those commitments.”
The Wings started heading to the goal of returning to the league after the WHSHL rookie tournament this spring. Bruinooge’s son, Luke, along with Anderson Fischer, another student at LCS, began recruiting students from grades nine and 10 to participate in the tournament.
“They gained interest from a lot of kids, and from there they went to administration with some parents, including myself, to help them out, and they convinced the school to put in a rookie team,” said Bruinooge.
In their three games played, the Wings posted a 1-2 record, with both of their losses coming by one goal deficits — not too shabby for a team that didn’t even exist prior to the tournament.
“That was the shift in the momentum,” Bruinooge said. “Having a really successful launch for the team, even just as a rookie team, gave us that momentum to convince our leadership of the school that bringing back a permanent team was a great idea.”
Once “school leadership” approved Bruinooge’s plan to revive the hockey program, all that was left to do was recruit players. In June, Bruinooge had more than 24 families commit to playing for the Wings, which was more than enough players to build a roster.
“The whole process was a huge effort,” said Bruinooge. “I got to give credit to the kids, though, who really pushed to make this happen. It's not a small project, but it’s worthwhile to get the kids to finally play together as a team.”
Overlooked Responsibilities
Along with the “team manager” title, Bruinooge was also tasked with the heavy workload of preparing the player’s equipment, finding practice ice, and entering the team into tournaments within the WHSHL. And although he landed the Wings a spot in a tournament at Sioux Falls from Nov. 7-10, Bruinooge says securing ice was more of a challenge.
“For high school hockey, accumulating the ice over the summer when everyone’s out at the lake was not easy, I’ll admit,” Bruinooge said. “I appreciate the City of Winnipeg though; they really came through for us, as did Sam Southern Arena, who really bent over backwards to help us out and get us the ice we needed.”
A Shift in Skill
As rewarding as it is for Linden Christian School’s community to have its hockey club back on the WHSHL map, players know there will be some inevitable “growing pains.”
“The league is for sure a little less talented, but it's still going to be a challenge,” Fischer said.
Ranked in the “Price” division (C Division) of the WHSHL, the Wings will be playing in the worst division in the league. And on top of the players lacking high school hockey experience, the amount of skill on the squad is certainly not overwhelming.
Fischer, 14, spent last year’s season with a dominant Triple A U15 Wild team, which posted a record of 24-6-2. Now, as a member of the Wings, Fischer knows he needs to keep his expectations in check for this upcoming season.
“Obviously we want to go out there every time and win hockey games, but that's just not how it works,” said Fischer. “I think expecting to have the type of competitive season I had last year would be setting myself up for failure, never mind disappointment.”
The transition from winning almost every game to playing on an LCS team that is projected to be near the bottom of the Price standings by the end of the season will be difficult, but it does still come with its perks.
“I’m definitely excited to put the puck in the net this year,” said Fischer. I was a bit of a bottom feeder on the AAA team last year, so it will be nice to be one of the top guys on the high school team and put some points up on the board.”
Racking up only one goal and seven points in 30 games last season, the left-shot centre will be ready to contribute more offensively this year, taking advantage of the less-skilled opponents he will face.
The Wings will play their first regular season game in early October upon release of the full WHSHL schedule (TBD).
massimodlt@outlook.com
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