With the Winterhawks



Tim Leier isn’t too proud to say he shed a few tears when his son Taylor left home to chase his hockey dreams in Portland, a city almost 1,200 miles away from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.





Tim Leier says young boys in the prairies who make freezing cold indoor rinks and backyard ponds their second home have one goal in life.





“Ninety-nine percent of them want to play in the Dub’’ says Leier, talking about the Western Hockey League.





The “Dub” beckons only the very best youth hockey players, and while not all of them are future professional stars, they are all pursuing the same objective when they arrive as 15-year-olds or 16-year-olds in Portland, or Seattle, or Kamloops, or Prince George.





Playing in the NHL.





The harsh reality is many of them will fall short.





But those players who come in as young boys and leave their WHL teams all grown up go through an emotional rite of passage and t

he families hang on tight, because they are also along for the ride, sharing each joy, each disappointment.

Sharing the blood (sometimes literally), the sweat, and the tears.

Another Parents Weekend has come and gone in Portland. The moms and dads have kissed their kids goodbye and returned home, trusting Mike Johnston and his staff and those ever-present billet families with the health and happiness of their hockey-playing sons.





“We had just put Taylor on a plane to Portland, and I realized we had just crossed a life stage,’’ said Tim Leier, whose son is a rugged winger on a Winterhawks team that is ranked No. 2 in the WHL and No. 6 in all of major-junior.





“It just kind of hit me like a brick,’’ said Tim Leier, whose son was a fourth-round NHL draft pick (Philadelphia Flyers) this year.





“Mike hadn’t turned the program around when Taylor was drafted (in the Bantam Draft) so there were some uncertain feelings. … but Mike’s got the receipe down for creating success on and off the ice. It’s almost like they run a little NHL team (in Portland).’’





Tim and Cindy Leier have come to realize the support system around Winterhawks players, in their words, is second to none.





“It was pretty easy to say, ‘that’s where I want my kid to play’ ” said Tim Leier.





Portland’s reputation for churning out NHL players also made the decision to go the major-junior route easier for rookie center Dominic Turgeon, the son of former NHL All-Star Pierre Turgeon.





“You see your son leaving at 16, it’s an adjustment,’’ said Pierre Turgeon, who lives in Denver.





“But he’s very happy, and he’s got a great billet family (Rodney and Teresa Forni) and everyone in Portland has made it very comfortable for us.’’





Dominic was a third-round pick in the 2011 Bantam Draft, one of the best players in his age group in North America, and he had offers to play college hockey.





“College or WHL, it was not an easy decision,’’ said Pierre Turgeon. “But it seems to us, Portland is like a big family the way they treat the players, the way they treat the parents. It makes it a lot easier to see your son leaving at such an early age.’’





Tim Leier, in his day, wasn’t a particularly gifted player but he was a hard-working grinder and digger who idolized former Philadelphia Flyers’ star Bobby Clarke and Boston’s Bobby Orr.





Taylor Leier is cut in the same mold, with more skills than dad. And Taylor isn’t afraid to drop the gloves, just like dad.





“I always knew he had it in him, that he had the heart,’’ said Tim Leier, who remembers Taylor spending hours on the family’s backyard rink in Saskatoon.





Pierre Turgeon brought his son into NHL locker rooms at an early age. “Even for the morning skate in St. Louis, said Turgeon, who played for six teams in a 19-year career.





“Next thing you know, he’s saying to himself, ‘I like this. I want to try it.’ ”





Dominic Turgeon said he fell in love with the game.





“I was so excited, coming to Portland,’’ he said.





Homesick? Yes, at times. “You miss the family a lot,’’ said Dominic Turgeon. “But the billets are great.’’





Pierre Turgeon said he doesn’t think his son feels any extra pressure having an NHL dad.





“When we talk, I don’t talk much about hockey,’’ said Pierre Turgeon. “I want him to have fun and enjoy it, and just worry about what he can control. When you put your two feet on the ice, give it everything you have.’’





Hawks’ captain Troy Rutkowski, once a wide-eyed young rookie, is now helping players such as Dominic Turgeon learn the ropes in the WHL.





But Troy’s mom, Heather Rutkowski, recalls those heart-wrenching moments she desperately missed her son during his first extended time away from his home in Edmonton, Alberta.





“You prepare yourself, but it’s a little bit scary,’’ said Heather Rutkowski. “Different country, different educational system. They’re living with billets who will have different house rules than what they are used to.





“Hopefully, you’ve prepared them, but you question yourself,’’ said Heather Rutkowski.”Have you prepared them to be prepared enough, to be confident enough, to handle it?’’





This WHL adventure is one of the most exciting times of their lives, says Heather, “but it’s a big adjustment period figuring out what life is going to be like (in Portland). If anything, them being on their own at 16, they have to grow up fast. You have to be independent, make decisions, and live by the consequences of those decisions.’’





Troy Rutkowski, a top defenseman, is one of those players who handled everything thrown at him. His billets are Bart and Bonnie Griswold.





“If anything, I think he’s very responsible,’’ said Heather. “You see him grow up before your eyes. And now he’s one of the leaders. He can share what he knows (with the younger players). He knows how tough it is the first year. He’s been through it.’’





Portland’s insistence on players keeping their grades up – either with high school classes or college courses – is another drawing card for concerned parents.





A year in the WHL translates into a year of college paid for. Four years in the WHL means four years of college for the players who don’t make it to the pros.





Tim Leier says Taylor “has his doubts, like every kid, when he doesn’t play well’’ but Taylor Leier also graduated from high school with honors and his parents are proud of that. Taylor's billets this season are Todd and Julie Eggen.





It takes a village to raise a future NHL star, and Tim Leier said the team’s education advisor, Sue Johnson, is one of the franchise’s MVPs.





“She’s like the mom who isn’t there, the mom who says, ‘have you done your homework?’ ” said Tim Leier.





“Taylor could get hurt tomorrow, and be out for life. We didn’t want him to have a grade 12 diploma because he took a lot of easy classes. We wanted to have a grade 12 diploma that would get him into college.’’





For some rookies, the first year can be overwhelming in many areas. “You have to keep close eye on them,’’ said Johnston, the team’s coach and general manager. “You get feedback from the billets, feedback from Sue Johnson, and the coaches are always observant. Who is adapting, who is struggling? If there are some issues, what are the issues?’’





Johnston takes the responsibility of taking care of his players, on and off the ice, very seriously. Part of the joy of coaching at this level, he said, is seeing 16-year-old boys turn into men.





At a certain level, the parents must take a leap of faith and trust in the coaches and support people in Portland.





“Do you miss your kid? Of course you do,’’ said Tim Leier. “At the same time, he’s moving forward (with his career). There’s a lot of pressure with junior hockey, but Mike keeps them on the right path.’’





Which is all the parents can ask for.



