• Famous Faces: Mark Lamb

    by  • May 14, 2013 • 0 Comments

    A89yEtlCEAAd9_RBy Craig Baird

    Chances of a minor hockey league player making it to WHL/OHL/Scholarship player: .5 per cent

    Chances of WHL/OHL/Scholarship player making it to the NHL: Five per cent

    Those are pretty long odds, and if by some chance a player makes the NHL, reaching over 100 games is not easy and winning the Stanley Cup is even harder.

    For Mark Lamb, currently the head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, he has done all of those things.

    Born on Aug. 3, 1964, Lamb spent his early life on a farm near Ponteix, while going to school in Cadillac.

    Drafted 72nd overall by the Calgary Flames in 1982, Lamb spent six seasons in the WHL (as well as a season with the then-SJHL Swift Current Broncos), where he scored 362 points in 244 games.

    He made the leap to the NHL in 1985-86, playing one game with the Calgary Flames.

    After two more years with the AHL, Tigers, Lamb found himself with the Detroit Red Wings. Playing in 22 games in 1986-87, he netted three points. The following season, Lamb found himself claimed by the greatest team that has ever existed; The Dynasty-era Edmonton Oilers. In 1987-88, he played two games with no points and spent the next two seasons in the AHL. In 1988-89, following Gretzky’s trade to Los Angeles, Lamb was brought up to the NHL for good. In four seasons with the Oilers, he 93 points in 174 games.

    The crowning achievement came in 1990 when he won the Stanley Cup with the Oilers.

    Between 1992 and 1996, Lamb would play for Ottawa, Philadelphia and Montreal. Upon his retirement in 2000, he finished his NHL career with 146 points in 403 games in the regular season and 26 points in 70 playoff games.

    The Boomtown took time to interview Lamb, who is now the head coach of the Swift Current Broncos, about his life and career.

     

    What was it like growing up in Ponteix?

    It was good. We farmed out there and growing up all we did was rodeo and go to school and play hockey and lots of work and picking work.

     

    What are some of your favourite memories from the town?

    I was born in Ponteix, but for the most part we were Cadillac people. I played hockey there, went to school there. For the most part we grew up in Cadillac.

     

    Do you ever get back there?

    We make it down every once in awhile. When I was gone all those years, we would come back every year, once a year. Now it is not very far away. My dad lives down there so we get back every so often.

     

    When you were drafted, did you think you would spend 400 games in the NHL and win a Stanley Cup?

    When you are drafted that is your goal. You want to play one game and when you are a young kid you want to win the Stanley cup. It is a dream and that is what you have to have. Once you play a few games and get to a team that you think you can have success, it becomes a reality.

     

    What is your favourite hockey memory?

    Winning the Stanley cup.

     

    What was it like taking to the ice as a young man with players like the Oilers?

    The year before we played them in the playoffs and just playing against them was excited. When I was traded and I walked into the dressing room and Messier and Gretzky and Lowe were all there. You are in awe of it and it is intimidating. Those types of players make you feel at home pretty quick.

     

    What are some of the biggest differences between coaching in the NHL and in the WHL?

    It is different in many ways. You are not coaching any different in the competitive part when you are on the bench or how you run your practices or how you coach. The difference is you are dealing with kids off the ice. They are going to school. Most of the coaching you have to talk to them a lot more, give them more guidance. They are teenage kids going through a lot of emotions of leaving home. Once you are in the NHL. That is the difference. Most of the guys are married, living on their own. You turn yourself into a parent in the WHL.

     

     What are your hobbies outside of hockey?

    I like to golf a little bit. I used to rodeo a lot but don’t have time now. My really my hobbies now are with volleyball and I spend most of my time with my kids.

     

    With the hockey season done, what are your plans for the summer?

    The hockey season is never done. It is still the everyday grind of coming to the office. We went through the bantam draft, now it is the euro draft. We are talking to our players, doing conditioning programs, getting letters out for training camp. You want to take time off to refresh your brain and get excited for the season.

    Layla’s Musings: The Joy of Napping

    by  • May 14, 2013 • 0 Comments

    Who doesn’t enjoy a good nap? We have all been there; when you have taken a moment to sit down for a break and have fallen asleep. Perhaps the warm afternoon sun was shining through the window, a little touch of warmth after a long winter. For just a moment, you want to close...

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    Craig’s Corner: Putting age in perspective…

    by  • May 14, 2013 • 0 Comments

    A significant portion of my job involves history. Not only the lovely history features I write for the Advance and Boomtown, but learning a history of a story, or the history of a town. Most recently, I was looking through Centennial Chronicles, the history of Gull Lake from 2011. While reading the family histories, I...

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    What’s in a name?

    by  • May 14, 2013 • 0 Comments

    By Craig Baird   Eastend, Val Marie, Climax, Loomis, Cadillac, where did all these names come from? Have you ever taken a road trip around southern Saskatchewan and wondered where the names came from? Well, if you have, and even if you have not, here is a brief lesson in southwest Saskatchewan place names....

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    Our Lady of Auvergne in Ponteix

    by  • May 14, 2013 • 0 Comments

    By Craig Baird Did you know that there is a piece of not only Medieval history, but French Revolution history in southwest Saskatchewan? Well, there is and you can find it in Ponteix, home to one of the most beautiful churches in the prairies. It is Our Lady of Auvergne, a 400-year-old oak statue...

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    Scott Anthony Andrews ready to bring his unique sound to area

    by  • May 1, 2013 • 1 Comment

    Scott_Anthony_2

    Scott Anthony

    By Craig Baird

    With the release of Faith is a Bicycle, Scott Anthony Andrews is ready to bring his unique mix of adult contemporary gospel/folk music to southwest Saskatchewan.

    With two shows in Maple Creek and Eastend, Andrews is excited to perform in front of area residents.

    “I am looking forward to it. It is always great to get out on the prairie,” Andrews said. “The cover of the album features the prairie and I am looking forward to being in a more rural and warmer part of the country.”

    The album, which was recorded at the Glenn Ross Studio in Saskatoon, along with Rich McFarlane, Gent Laird, Glen Ens and Ross Nykiforuk, features a mix of jazz, pop and chant-like style.

    “I attempt to make my music relaxing and somewhat thought-provoking,” Andrews said. “The lyrical content tends to be appealing to the sacred sensibilities.”

    For Andrews, the road to music began several years ago while on a sabbatical in Ohio in 2008.

    “I started to go to church and when I came back I thought I would like to sing again,” Andrews said. “I just got back into it.”

    The title of the album, Faith is a Bicycle, came from a chance encounter at church and helped inspire the music of the album.

    “The title of the album came from an older gentlemen that came to our congregation named Dieter. I saw a bike that was locked to a rack with a cane strapped to the back of it. Out came Dieter with another cane that he put on the back of the rack, so his bike had two canes on it,” Andrews said. “I was very moved by that. He explained to me that he could cycle better than he could walk. I thought that was really a great example of faith.”

    Andrews went on to state that inspiration for songs comes from watching people around him, as many songwriters do.

    After his shows in Maple Creek and Eastend, Andrews will be playing throughout the prairies, including in Edmonton, Calgary and Fort Qu’Appelle.

    “It is mainly a Saskatchewan tour, with some stops in Manitoba and Alberta,” Andrews said.’

    As for what you can expect from the musical evenings, Andrews states that it will be a mix of him singing and his friend Ross MacNab, a blogger with the Huffington Post, telling stories.

    “It will be an intimate evening. It will be me on the piano, singing songs from the new album,” Andrews said.

    The Maple Creek show will be on May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Maple Creek United Church. The Eastend show will be on May 5 at 2:30 p.m. at the Eastend United Church.

    Boil Water Advisory in Eastend

    by  • April 29, 2013 • 0 Comments

    boil advisoryBy Craig Baird

    A mechanical failure on Sunday morning has led to a boil water advisory in the Town of Eastend. Staying on the side of caution, the Town issued the advisory after some untreated water got into the big reservoir due to a mechanical failure.

    “Just to be on the safe side, we flushed the tank, fixed the mechanical problem and refilled the tank,” Alan Howard, mayor of Eastend, said. “When something like that happens, we like to just advise everyone to boil.”

    Over the next three days, the town’s water will be tested. Once the town has passed three clear tests, the advisory will be lifted.

    It is expected that the advisory should be lifted by the end of the week.

    “When people ask when it will be lifted, I tell them that hopefully everything will be fine by Friday but it could be sooner,” Mayor Howard said.

    The joys of having a dog

    by  • April 23, 2013 • 0 Comments

    CraigFor as long as I can remember, I have always lived with dogs. From my earliest memories as a child and yelling at the dog that ate my hot dog, to yesterday when I wondered why my dog Boromir drank a bunch of water and then put his head on my lap, drooling on it.

    Dogs are a wonderful creature. Noble, loyal, always happy and perfect, I love all kinds of dogs. In many ways I feel that we don’t deserve dogs. As Roy Rogers once said, “If dogs don’t go to heaven, I want to go wherever they do.” I feel the same.

    While Layla has a wonderful little dog named Niko, my lovely pooch is Boromir. He is part Border Collie and part Irish Setter. He has a heart of gold, and he is happy just to see me whenever I come home.

    Of course, it isn’t always perfect with Boromir, who usually goes by the shortened name Boris.

    First, there was the time when I decided to leave him out as a puppy. Having lived with puppies before, I thought enough ahead to set up a webcam so I could watch him from home. It took me two minutes to drive from my home to work in High River, and another minute to log into my computer so I could watch the webcam. In that three minutes, he had knocked over a large stack of items, busted through the gate I set up to keep him out of the entry way and was at the moment of my watching, running through the kitchen holding a Halloween decoration in his mouth.

    For roughly a year, I didn’t have a sock that was devoid of holes. He found my socks, carried them wherever he wanted and ate them.

    Speaking of eating things, in the year-and-a-half that he has been part of my family, I have pulled fluff, hair, a nail and a coin out of his mouth. Thankfully, he has never swallowed any of these.

    Did I mention that he drools? Typically he does this when there is food, or when he drinks water. Many times Layla has lamented stepping in a puddle of drool. For me, it is something that he does, and a nice part of his personality.

    Every morning, I enjoy going for a walk. If you remember a previous Battle of the Bairds, you know I am a morning person. Enjoying a walk in the morning during the spring or summer is a great experience and it is made even better with Boromir.

    Thankfully, my dog is also a morning person….er…dog.

    Whenever I get up early to game or read a book, Boromir is there with me. The picture in this column is of him, at about 7:30 a.m., when I was doing some work from home. Getting up when you don’t need to, that spells loyalty to me.

    Back to the joys. What would life be like without a dog who jumps in your chair as you walk towards it, expecting you to pet him.

    I’m sure Layla also loves it when Boromir puts his face up to hers first thing in the morning, excited to wake her up.

    If not for Boromir, I would have never known what a blast it could be having a cell phone with teeth marks in it, nor an iPad camera card adapter without some more teeth marks.

    Ah, the joys of dog ownership.

    I wouldn’t trade any of those joys, nor my best pal Boromir, for anything.

    We are documenting our lives these days

    by  • April 23, 2013 • 0 Comments

    What did we ever do without the camera? What did we ever do without digital cameras or social media platforms? The ability of capturing moments in life has certainly come a long way in a short period of time. Yes, people have been painting and drawing images and portraits for centuries, but the images...

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