Lucas Punkari
When looking at the hometowns of members of this year’s Fort Frances Lakers, jumping out from the Ontario and Minnesota locales are the cities of Gilbert, Ariz. and Santee, Calif.
While those two towns may not be what immediately comes to mind as your “traditional hockey markets,” they are where Lakers’ defencemen Brandon Fehd and Steve Terry both fell in love with the game.
“My grandfather was a coach in the college ranks, and when I was younger I watched my uncle play a game, and I just started to pick it up and just kept going with it,” recalled Fehd, who hails from Gilbert, which is just outside of Phoenix.
“For me, the passion for hockey comes from my dad [Steve Sr.], who is a huge hockey guy and he was basically my idol as I grew up,” noted Terry, who grew up in Santee, a suburb of San Diego.
The two blueliners both have become key members for the Lakers after being acquired in trades last month, which also has coincided with the team’s recent seven-game winning streak.
“We’ve been very pleased with how both of them have played for us,” said Lakers’ head coach and general manager Wayne Strachan.
“The number-one thing that they have brought to our team is their leadership as 20-year-olds and their veteran play, which you can see with the younger guys [Connor Hady and Jon Carlson] that play with them.
“Even when we were struggling at the start of December, both guys wanted to know what they could do, and if they should step up and talk in the [locker] room even though they were new guys,” added Strachan.
“They’ve both been great in helping us to get to where we are right now,” he stressed.
In addition to contributing to the team’s recent success, both Fehd and Terry have been enjoying their time so far in Fort Frances.
“It’s been amazing,” Fehd enthused.
“There’s so much to do here compared to where I was originally [in Sioux Lookout], and the guys here are just awesome as we hang out all the time and they, along with the coaching staff, took us in with open arms,” he added.
Since joining the Lakers, along with forward Bryan Broders, on Dec. 1 as a result of trade with the Sioux Lookout Flyers, Fehd, who turns 21 this Friday, has scored a goal and assisted on five others in 11 games, helping to increase his total point output to 16 this season.
“He’s a hyper guy who is always excited and he brings that excitement to the game,” Strachan noted.
“Brandon can sometimes be a little bit of a riverboat gambler on the back end as he likes to take chances,” Strachan conceded.
“But if he gets beat, he has that speed and hockey sense to get back in the right direction and recover.”
Part of the reason for that attack on the back-end from Fehd, who describes himself as an offensively-minded defenceman, is the fact he grew up playing as a forward until one fateful weekend during a tournament in California.
“Our coach on my team in Arizona [needed] someone to play defence as we had some players who were sick that weekend,” he recalled.
“So I ended up doing that for that tournament, and from that point on I became a converted ‘D’-man,” he smiled.
After his time in the minor hockey system in Phoenix, and a couple of years with the California Titans’ Midget program, Fehd began his junior hockey career last season with the Aberdeen Wings of the NAHL and the OJHL’s Collingwood Blackhawks before coming to the SIJHL with Sioux Lookout this season.
“It was actually a huge change for me between all of those leagues,” Fehd admitted.
“In the NAHL, it was a lot more about puck control, puck possession, and using your speed,” he noted.
“But as soon I came over to Ontario, I noticed it was all about big hitters and grinders, so I’ve tried to switch things up and not only keep the things I’ve learned in the NAHL along with adding stuff I’m leaning here.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned, though, since coming into junior is to just keep going, especially if you are in a slump,” Fehd stressed.
“Every day is a new day, and you just need to go in and just go at doing your job out there,” he reasoned.
As for Terry, who is 20 years old, his journey through the world of hockey has been a long and winding one, which saw him move to Minnesota to play four seasons in that state’s ultra-competitive high school ranks.
“I spent my first two years attending a private boarding school [St. John’s Prep School in Collinsville] before going to a public school [New London Spicer] for my junior and my senior seasons,” said Terry, who spends his off-seasons living in Frazee, Mn.
“While I was there at both schools, I learned how to play the game the right way and just keep the game simple.
“And in my final two years, my high school team was a very good one so it was a good place to learn,” he added.
After graduating from high school, Terry played with the St. Louis Jr. Blues of the CSHL in his first year of junior hockey, which resulted in him picking up a Tier III national championship in 2010.
Following that success, Terry signed with the Melville Millionaires of the SJHL last season, but his time there ended up being short-lived.
“I got into a car accident where I ended up injuring my back, and I ended up going back to Minnesota to undergo physical therapy,” he explained.
“Once I got better, I ended up finishing out the year with the South Jersey Raptors, where we ended up having had a pretty good season.”
Heading into this past summer, Terry was planning to hang up his skates for good—until he received two phone calls from Junior ‘A’ teams in Ontario.
“I got a call from a team in the OJHL and one from a team in the SIJHL, which turned out to be the Wisconsin Wilderness,” he noted.
“When talking to their coach [Rod Aldoff], Wisconsin seemed like a better place for me to play and I ended up going there, and now I’m here in Fort Frances.”
Since joining the Lakers on Dec. 1, Terry has notched his first two goals of the season and assisted on four others in 11 games, putting his total point output this year to 10 in 33 games.
“Obviously, it’s taken a little bit longer than I would have liked to be scoring my first two goals this season,” he laughed.
“But other than that, things have been going well, and hopefully I can keep things going here.”
“Steve’s had a little bit more of a chance offensively here than in Wisconsin, and as a result he has elevated his game in addition to still being pretty steady in the back end and being smart with the puck,” Strachan lauded.
While Fehd and Terry currently are focused on getting the Lakers to the Dudley Hewitt Cup in Thunder Bay this spring, both also are looking to the future and the next steps in their hockey careers.
“I’ve had some schools talking to me here and there, and there has been a D-1 school that has shown a lot of interest, so hopefully I end up going there,” Terry said.
“My main goal is to go to school next year, no questions asked, as I did have some opportunities to play minor-pro this year,” he added.
“But I just wanted to play my last year of junior, take some time to mature as a person, and get my education.”
“I’m currently talking to a couple of schools, and hopefully I end up in Division 1 or in the semi-pro ranks,” Fehd said.
“I just want to go as far as the game takes me, and just keep on living the dream,” he smiled.
