Editor's note: Plenty of minor hockey teams have come and gone in Yellowknife but few have had the star power and results the 2013-2014 edition of the Yellowknife Wolfpack peewee development team had. The names which came off of that team reads like a who's who of Northern hockey stars and here's a brief synopsis of that team.
The Yellowknife Wolfpack development team program has been an unmitigated success.
That fact can't be argued. It has given many young hockey players in Yellowknife the chance to succeed and end up getting opportunities a scant few have had before then. If you take a look at the 2013-2014 Yellowknife Wolfpack peewee development team, you would be hard-pressed to come up with a reason as to why they shouldn't be considered one of the best minor hockey teams there's even been in the North.
One of the tournaments the team travelled to that year was the Peewee AA Classic in Regina and head coach Dan Schofield spoke with NNSL Media after the team returned home with a silver medal, one of the scant few times they didn't come home with gold ("Silver lining in Regina", Yellowknifer, Feb. 5, 2014) and he said then that his young troops put on a fine show.
In a AA tournament no less, a rare occurrence for Yellowknife teams back then.
"If I'm rating the team, I would give them seven or eight out of 10," he said. "I think we could've played better, especially early on in the tournament, but as always, we get caught off-guard with the speed and intensity of the level of play at the start."
Chad Goddard photo
They would play in several tournaments that year in places such as Richmond, B.C.; Phoenix, Arizona; Whitehorse; just to name a few. But a look years later at who came off of that team and you start to see just how good that unit was. Here's a look at some of those who ended up getting some rather lifty opportunities:
Ethan Anstey - played with Shawnigan Lake School in B.C. and will suit up with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) this coming season.
Samuel Schofield - signed with Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League in 2018 but played with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the BC Hockey League this past season.
Liam Tereposky - had several WHL tryouts; played this past season with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
Annie King - Played with the vaunted Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Sask., for three seasons and was selected to play with Team Canada at the World U18 Women's Hockey Championship in Slovakia earlier this year, here she won a silver medal.
Lonan Bulger - son of the late Carl Bulger, ended up playing high school hockey in Minnesota with Shattuck St. Mary's; played with Waywayseecappo this past season.
Jack Works - played with the Edge School in Calgary before moving to AJHL with Okotoks Oilers in 2018; led the Oilers in scoring this past season and has committed to the University of Denver.
Connor Fleming - drafted by the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders in 2016.
Anna MacCara - played several years in B.C. before committing joining McGill University's women's program this past season.