Keith to return to his roots

Mark your calendars, because NHL all-star Duncan Keith is coming back to the town who gave him his hockey start, with a celebratory day scheduled in his honour on July 21.
Keith will be entering his fourth full NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks in the fall, and has proven to be a dependable and durable force on their blue line, coming off of a 2007-08 season that was quite the coming out party.
Not only did he have his highest professional goal total with 12 to go with 20 assists, but he also had the fifth-best plus/minus (+30) in the NHL while going against opposing team’s top forwards on a nightly basis for a non-playoff team. He also logged a whopping 2,096 minutes in ice time over the 82-game schedule, good for the third highest total in the league (25:33 per game).
Keith is one of the fastest skaters in the league, and has proven to play a solid two-way game from the back end with his mix of finesse and toughness. His fine play earned him a Western Conference all-star nod at mid-season, as well as a world championship invite to represent Canada during the World Championships in May. The team hauled in a silver medal, losing to Russia in the final.
“Duncs presence here representing minor hockey players is a testimony that with hard work, grit, perseverance and desire, hockey players of all ages can successfully aspire to another level of hockey,” said Larry Patrick, a member of the Duncan Keith Day Committee. “As a minor hockey player [he] was small in stature, but big in heart, desire and determination.
“Those that coached and played with Duncan weren’t all that surprised by his hockey success at all levels, because Duncan exemplified at a young age that special attitude that he wanted to, and was going to, aspire to higher levels of hockey success. Duncan always left everything on the ice, win or lose.”
Keith began his hockey journey in 1988 here in Fort Frances and played the next 10 years in the local minor hockey system, last skating for the Knights of Columbus PeeWee ‘AA’ team as a 13-year-old in 1997.
He then moved to B.C. to further pursue his hockey career with the ‘AAA’ Penticton Predators before making the natural transition to junior A hockey with the Penticton Panthers of the British Columbia Hockey League at 16 years old.
Keith produced a whopping 82 points in 60 games in his final season as a Panther, before making the jump to Michigan State University.
Keith was drafted in the second round of the 2002 draft by the Blackhawks following his first year at MSU, and left midway through his second season to go to the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.
He was a big addition for the Rockets down the stretch, tallying 46 points in 37 regular season games, including another 14 in 19 playoff matchups. That was enough to convince the Hawks that he was ready to make the jump to professional hockey, and he spent the next two seasons with the Hawks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, before making the leap to the NHL for the ’05-06 campaign.
Obviously the pedigree Keith has shown at the NHL level warrants some recognition in the town where he first plied his hockey trade, and Patrick and the rest of the committee have been working hard to iron out the details for the upcoming event.
A trivia contest will appear in full in next week’s Times, available to participating minor hockey players in the area, with winners being selected to spend some ice time with the NHL star.
The event will also feature a barbeque and plenty of time to mingle and get autographs with Keith. Another member of the Hawks may also be making the trip, so stay tuned.
Further details will be released as they become available in the coming weeks.