Joey Payeur
The Fort Frances Lakers are slated to play the back end of a home-and-home pre-season series with the Minnesota Iron Rangers tonight in Hoyt Lakes.
Forgive them if they get caught looking ahead.
The team’s focus may be directed more to tomorrow night’s trip to Marathon, where they’ll face the Thunder Bay North Stars in what not only will be a pre-season contest but a tribute to a former Laker and three others who died in a multi-vehicle accident last October.
Jaret LeClair was just 20 when he was one of four Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation residents killed in the accident there.
LeClair, along with Jordan Nabigon, Kody Nabigon, and Greg Nabigon, will be remembered in a special pre-game ceremony.
All proceeds from the game will go towards the Pic River Memorial Fund created in honour of the deceased.
“Jaret was a player who wanted to win,” recalled Lakers’ general manager and head coach Wayne Strachan.
“He did whatever it took on the ice to try and be successful.
“Now most would remember him for his physical play,” Strachan noted.
“But some probably never noticed he was one of the best penalty-killers in the league, he played on one of the best shutdown lines in the league, and he could contribute offensively when the team needed him to.”
LeClair played three seasons with the Lakers, beginning with the 2009-10 campaign and finishing in 2011-12.
The forward collected 33 goals and 42 assists in 123 regular-season games with Fort Frances, adding eight goals and 11 assists in 37 career playoff games.
“Jaret was fun to be around,” said Strachan. “He was easy-going and liked to laugh and joke around.
“The one thing that sticks out the most in my mind was his loyalty to his teammates,” he added.
“The brother that liked them all to be together and who stuck up for all of them.”
Strachan saw LeClair evolve significantly both as a player and a person in their time together.
“Jaret came in as an unknown to us and fit right in,” the Lakers’ bench boss remarked.
“He worked hard and had a quite demeanor about him.
“As the years went on, his play on the ice grew into a valuable commodity that helped us almost win a championship,” added Strachan.
“He was our most improved player throughout those three years and he learned how to be a winner.”
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing between Strachan and LeClair.
“Off the ice, Jaret and I butted heads at times but we always had respect for one another,” Strachan stressed.
“He was friends with all on the team and he wanted the team to be close-knit.
“He always had them together doing something.”
Strachan still has painful memories of receiving word about LeClair’s death.
“We were riding on the bus home from a game with the Iron Rangers and some of the players came up and said, ‘Jaret was in a car accident and it sounds like he has passed away,’” he recalled.
“A few minutes went by where everyone was in shock and wanting to know what happened, and then it was more or less confirmed by a couple of sources.
“My biggest feeling was disbelief,” Strachan added. “We had just played in Thunder Bay where Jaret was going to school and he was at our games.
“We had a good talk on Friday after the game. He seemed happy, proud, and doing well in school.
“It’s something as a coach you never want to hear one of your players or former players passing away,” he reflected.
“I am not sure it really sunk in for a few days.”
Strachan appreciates the importance of being able to participate in the tribute game.
“It means everything!” he exclaimed. “Especially to the coaching staff who knew and were a part of Jaret’s life for three years.
“To go back after almost a year’s time . . . the last time some of us set foot in the Marathon Arena was to say good-bye to a friend, teammate, and young man.
“It will be a honour for us to now play a game in his and his fellow community members’ honour,” Strachan said.
“We will hang his jersey on the bench proudly!”
Even though it’s only a pre-season game, Strachan won’t deny there will be extra motivation in the Lakers’ dressing room tomorrow night.
“I think if you go back to last year, and our vets know, that this hit our team hard and many of the players hard,” he admitted.
“When this happened, we honoured Jaret and it more or less turned our season around,” he noted.
“We have discussed the game in the locker-room and why we are playing it, and we will represent the Lakers and Jaret proudly on the ice and try and put a good showing on in his memory— a Jaret game, so to speak, with a lot of hard work and energy.”
Strachan voiced his gratitude for the efforts put in by all those responsible for tomorrow night’s event.
“We would just like to thank all that have got the ball rolling on this game, especially Byron LeClair, Jaret’s dad, and the Pic River First Nation for asking and allowing us to be a part of this special evening for all four of the band members,” he remarked.
“Many people have made this happen,” he added. “The town of Marathon’s ladies’ and men’s hockey leagues, I understand, have donated all the ice for the game.
“The refs are donating their time and earnings back to the fund that the proceeds are going to.
“It really is going to be a great evening, and you can’t say enough for the people who have recognized this and stepped up to help out,” Strachan said.
