{"id":428710,"date":"2026-01-23T20:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428710\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T20:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:01:20","slug":"from-the-farm-to-the-nhl-is-it-still-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428710\/","title":{"rendered":"From the farm to the NHL – is it still possible?"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINNIPEG \u2014 There\u2019s an iconic photo from the 1960s that captures the connection between hockey and farming in Canada.<\/p>\n

In the black and white picture, a shirtless and muscular Bobby Hull is pitching hay on his farm in Ontario.<\/p>\n

The photo embodies the Canadian story about back-breaking farm labour and how that prepares young men for a career in the National Hockey League.<\/p>\n

\t<\/p>\n

Read Also<\/p>\n

\"Slices<\/p>\n

TEAM readers have fond memories, recipes in particular<\/p>\n

We recently asked our readers for their thoughts and memories of 30 years of TEAM Resources columns published in the Western Producer. Here are some of their responses. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was working on the family farm and throwing bales of hay that set my arm up for the slapshots I was later known for,\u201d Hull told the Belleville Intelligencer in 2001.<\/p>\n

\"ABobby Hull, who was famous for his curved stick and slapshot, developed his strength by working on his Ontario farm. Photo: Screencap via facebook.com<\/p>\n

There are similar legends about hockey and farming in Western Canada, with the most famous being the six Sutter brothers of Viking, Alta. \u2014 Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich and Ron.<\/p>\n

The Sutter boys were raised on the family farm and all six thrived in the Western Hockey League and the NHL in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n

Brent Sutter, who played for the Islanders and Blackhawks and owns the Red Deer Rebels of the WHL, has a clear memory of working on the farm in his teens.<\/p>\n

He fed pigs, took care of the chickens and milked cows.<\/p>\n

He also did field work, putting in time on the tractors.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had things to do and you had to get it done,\u201d said Sutter, who is 63.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom and Dad held us accountable to make sure it got done\u2026. That was the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Western Producer, Sutter said there\u2019s a direct relationship between his childhood and his success in professional hockey.<\/p>\n

It gave him the \u201cdiscipline, work ethic (and) accountability\u201d that\u2019s needed in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Sutter\u2019s experience in Viking probably sounds familiar to tens of thousands of kids who grew up on farms in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n

Everyone was expected to help and do their bit, even hockey players selected in the first round of the NHL draft.<\/p>\n

But does that connection between \u201chard work\u201d on a farm and success in hockey still ring true in 2026?<\/p>\n

Is it possible for a farm kid from Wadena, Sask., to make the NHL?<\/p>\n

Absolutely it is.<\/p>\n

However, that teenage hockey player may follow a very different path than players in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll probably spend much more time on the ice and very little time on a tractor.<\/p>\n

No time for farm work<\/p>\n

Ken Schneider grew up on a grain farm in Colfax, Sask., north of Weyburn. He played for local hockey teams in southeastern Saskatchewan in the 1970s, then the Brandon Wheat Kings for two years and was captain of the Wheaties in the 1981-82 season.<\/p>\n

Four decades later, Schneider is still involved in the sport. He\u2019s an assistant coach with the Regina Pats in the WHL.<\/p>\n

Like Sutter, Schneider can easily remember the work he did on the family farm 50 years ago and how it shaped his life.<\/p>\n

One of his jobs was getting grain bins ready for seed storage.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy younger brother and I would spend a day cleaning bins. Then (my dad) would come along and bang the walls with his broom and we would be frustrated as hell,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cStuff would fall and he\u2019d say, \u2018get back in there, it\u2019s not done.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider didn\u2019t enjoy cleaning grain bins as a teenager, but he did learn important lessons about taking direction and doing things the right way.<\/p>\n

These days, teenage hockey players have little time for on-farm labour and the related life lessons because they\u2019re always on the ice.<\/p>\n

Many of them live away from home 11 months of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have kids (on the Rebels) that come from farms \u2026 but it\u2019s different now because kids can leave (home) during the winter,\u201d said Sutter, who won two Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be from Manitoba and come play in Alberta at an academy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last 20 years, dozens of hockey academies have popped up across Western Canada, where boys and girls go to school and play hockey six or seven days of the week.<\/p>\n

Some elite players will leave home at age 13 or 14 to attend an academy, hundreds of kilometres from where they live. When the school year ends, many will train at a hockey skills program for a month in the summer, or maybe all summer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s completely different from the teenage life of Warren McCutcheon, who now runs a grain farm<\/a> in Carman, Man.<\/p>\n

He spent much of the 2000s playing in the WHL, for the University of Manitoba Bisons and in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n

\"WarrenWarren McCutcheon, who played hockey in the 2000s and now runs a grain farm near Carman, Man., says staying on the farm during his playing years had its benefits, but the concept of taking a summer break from the game has since faded away. Photo: Supplied<\/p>\n

McCutcheon was with the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Medicine Hat Tigers from 2000-02.<\/p>\n

When he was 15 he lived on the family farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was playing bantam hockey and high school hockey \u2026 snowmobiling on the weekend. The best time of my life was at 14-15,\u201d said McCutcheon, who was taken by the New Jersey Devils in the 2000 entry draft.<\/p>\n

Besides hockey, McCutcheon was passionate about farming and was out on a tractor by the age of 12.<\/p>\n

Sutter and Schneider worry that kids lose something when they focus entirely on hockey.<\/p>\n

Many players on the Rebels have come through academies, and the programs do churn out quality players. However, Sutter said it isn\u2019t the only way, or the best way, to reach the WHL and the NHL<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (an academy) does provide a lot of things that minor hockey programs don\u2019t provide\u2026 Coaches are paid to work in those academies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more opportunities for the kids to play year-round now, but I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s good thing for the player to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerBrent Sutter, former NHL player. Photo: Courtesy Red Deer Rebels<\/p>\n

A teenager should have friends outside of hockey, should probably have a part-time job and play a different sport in the summer, he added.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of the experience of growing up and makes someone a better athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are hockey players that can\u2019t even throw a ball because they\u2019re not athletes,\u201d Sutter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me. You can tell the difference when they get to this level \u2013 who is the hockey player or an athlete\u2026. I\u2019ve been involved in this industry a long time\u2026. I get both sides of it. All I\u2019m trying to say is that there\u2019s still huge value on an individual that plays different sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

When did things change?<\/p>\n

Patrick Marleau holds the record for the most games played in the NHL, and his hockey story began on a farm in Aneroid, Sask., near Swift Current.<\/p>\n

Marleau was in the WHL in the 1990s, a time when farm kids still returned home to help their parents and likely attended a hockey school for a couple of weeks in the summer.<\/p>\n

\"APatrick Marleau, who holds the NHL record for regular season games played, started his hockey career on a farm near Aneroid, Sask. Photo: San Jose Mercury News<\/p>\n

The concept of taking a summer break from hockey faded away in the 2000s. After his first season in the WHL, in 2000, McCutcheon was at home in Carman.<\/p>\n

He received a pamphlet in the mail from the Hurricanes, which recommended 50 push-ups per day, or a daily jog in the off-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty low budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

A couple of years later, consistent on-ice workouts became normal for junior hockey players in the summer months.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt flipped,\u201d McCutcheon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you weren\u2019t doing it, you were behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intense competition to make the WHL or a earn a U.S. college scholarship has put pressure on parents to spend big dollars on their teenagers.<\/p>\n

That could mean $40,000 per year on a hockey academy and summertime camps for a 14-year-old.<\/p>\n

Schneider said he has seen many cases where the parents are more invested in hockey than the child. The player might enjoy \u201cwearing the jersey\u201d of a WHL team but really isn\u2019t passionate about the sport.<\/p>\n

It might be better if a 16- or 17-year-old hockey player, including kids from farms, had a part-time job and helped pay for the cost of sticks or something, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a great lesson for kids. It weeds out the guys that really want to do it (from) the guys who think they want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The odds are long \u2014 97 to 98 per cent of WHL players will not reach the NHL. Despite that reality, every WHL player has an agent, Schneider said.<\/p>\n

Sometime in the 2000s, it became clear to McCutcheon that he wasn\u2019t going to make it.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t willing to \u201cput his head through the glass\u201d to reach the top tier in the extremely competitive world of hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NHL was never Plan 1 in my life.\u2026 You don\u2019t realize how hard it is until you\u2019re in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to that next level\u2026 you had to be unbelievably good, unbelievably tough or the hardest working player in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sentence is what separates the players who make the NHL, whether they grow up in rural Saskatchewan or downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n

If a child has the inner drive to skate around pylons for hours, at age eight, that desire is the difference maker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked with Connor Bedard for two years\u2026. Those guys dig in. They do extra stuff\u2026. They do it because they want to do it,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n

As for farm kids, they may have a cultural advantage because leaders in the hockey industry still associate the farm with work ethic and discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m biased \u2026 (but) he\u2019ll be a better team player,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to ask our current GM and coaching staff, would we be interested in a (hockey player from a farm), every hand would go up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutter agreed, saying that if a team drafts a farm kid, it knows what it is going to get.<\/p>\n

That said, he added, there are fantastic kids in hockey academies across Canada.<\/p>\n

However, the old way of doing things, where junior players work on the family farm, play baseball or have a part-time job at McDonald\u2019s in the summer, should be considered, Sutter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying one is better than the other, (but) there are some things \u2026 (that) were done in the past. Those are still pretty darn good things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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