Getting to know Battlefords North Stars captain Owen Dyck

“A lot of fighting,” Dyck said with a laugh. “Some days you get along, some days not so much. Just kind of always got something to do.”

Sports provided another outlet.

Dyck played volleyball, badminton, curling and softball, along with competing in track and field. He reached provincials twice, once in triple jump and once in a four-event competition that included the 800 metres, 100 metres, long jump and shot put.

“I played all the school sports I could,” he said.

Eventually, hockey took him away from Borden and to Prince Albert, where he attended high school while playing for the U18 AAA Mintos.

“I loved it,” Dyck said. “I had a lot of fun. It was a pretty good time.”

Years later, hockey has brought him to another Saskatchewan community he now considers an important part of his life.

Dyck is entering his third season with the North Stars and will wear the captain’s “C” this year.

When hockey gave him a break this summer, Dyck returned to a more traditional Saskatchewan workplace, spending the off-season at a Pioneer grain elevator. His days included sampling grain, recording weights and handling other jobs around the elevator.

There was some time for golf and trips to the lake, although not as much as he would have liked.

“We got a motorboat. Tubing, the wakeboard and stuff,” he said. “Didn’t really get to do much of that this year.”

Away from the rink, Dyck’s tastes are decidedly less serious. “Trailer Park Boys” tops his list of television shows, while “The Dirt,” the biopic about Mötley Crüe, is his favourite movie.

His musical tastes lean toward country and rock. At his first concert experience at Craven last year, he saw Jason Aldean, Bailey Zimmerman and Def Leppard.

Asked for his favourite of the three, Dyck didn’t hesitate: Def Leppard.

His game-day routine is similarly uncomplicated.

After morning skate, Dyck tapes his stick and plays sewer with teammates before heading home for a big breakfast with his billet brothers — usually eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast or bagels. Then it’s a nap, a shower and back to the rink, where he’s typically among the first to arrive.

There may be more sewer involved.

Beyond hockey, Dyck sees a future as an electrician, an interest that began while taking electrical shop classes in high school in Prince Albert.

For now, however, his attention is on the North Stars and the community he will represent as captain.

“It’s unreal,” Dyck said of the support in the Battlefords. “Going to other rinks, I’d say no fans of any other place compare to ours. Just so passionate, always coming out and supporting us. It’s awesome.”

Dyck and the North Stars open the SJHL regular season Sept. 18 at home against the Kindersley Klippers.

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Ryan.Lambert@pattisonmedia.com

by Ryan Lambert

Getting to know Battlefords North Stars captain Owen Dyck

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