Luke Schenn is looking forward to switching from professional hockey player to amateur hockey dad for a few days this holiday season.
The Winnipeg Jets defenceman will be spending part of his break the way many parents do: at the rink, cheering on his children. Schenn’s two oldest boys, ages eight and five, will hit the ice in the annual Winnipeg Jets Challenge Cup, an event that draws dozens of teams from around the city, province and beyond.
“With our schedule, obviously I miss a lot of their time. But when I’m able to go… I even took all the coaching certifications this year. That’s 10 hours of my life I’ll never get back,” Schenn joked in a recent chat with the Free Press.
“But yeah, I try to get on the ice with the kids and help out whenever I can, push some pucks around.”
JOE PUETZ / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
Jets D-man Luke Schenn won’t be far from the rink over the Christmas break as he will be helping coach is sons at the Winnipeg Jets Challenge Cup.
Schenn is thrilled to be back in a hockey-crazed community, considering he and his younger brother, Brayden — currently the captain of the St. Louis Blues — were born and raised in Saskatchewan, where the sport was a central part of their childhood.
“Street hockey, roller hockey, we’d be out at all hours,” he recalled.
Schenn wanted his own kids to enjoy a similar experience, but that proved far more difficult while the family lived in Nashville for most of the past two years. While the sport continues to grow at the grassroots level, rink availability remains a major challenge.
“There’s more and more kids playing hockey, but there might be five or six sheets available across all of Nashville,” he said.
Last winter, Schenn’s oldest son played on a team alongside the sons of then-Predators teammates Steve Stamkos, Ryan O’Reilly and Jonathan Marchessault.
“Out of nowhere, one of the rinks folded. The last half of the year, we had like three teams on the ice at a time, sharing ice for practices,” he said.
That’s not a concern in Winnipeg.
“Night and day,” said Schenn. “You come here and see how intense it is. It’s probably a little bit much, a little bit over the top. You know, every parent thinks your kid is going to play in the NHL. It’s not reality.”
Schenn shakes his head as he discusses the year-round grind that kids as young as six or seven now face — from spring skill camps to summer specialized teams that can become all-consuming and financially draining for many families.
“I probably see things in a little bit different way and don’t agree with the majority of it,” he said.
“Obviously it has changed a lot from when I was a kid, where you’d just play hockey with your friends. There were no tryouts. Now you’ve got people going crazy. It’s about balance for me. I’m trying not to drink the Kool-Aid too much.”
His advice: allow kids to take part in a variety of activities outside the traditional hockey season, including other sports such as baseball or soccer. He believes they’ll thank you later in life.
LUKE SCHENN PHOTO
Weston (left) and Kingston Schenn hit the ice as often as they can.
Schenn said his boys are only playing hockey because they want to — not because he’s pushing them into it.
“First of all, they’ve got to enjoy it. And they love it,” he said.
Schenn has built a rink in the backyard of his Winnipeg home, with his boys taking skating lessons alongside the children of Jets teammates Dylan DeMelo, Haydn Fleury, Tanner Pearson and Connor Hellebuyck.
“I wasn’t sure how they were going to act because they’ve only grown up in warm weather, mostly. But they’re loving it out there. They want to go every day. Minus 30, it doesn’t matter. We’re out there for a couple hours,” he said.
Schenn said his five-year-old was recently “called up” to play on his big brother’s team — and may have been a little too amped.
“He’s a little bit crazy and was taking some penalties. He doesn’t hold back,” he said with a laugh. Like father, like son.
“…they’re loving it out there. They want to go every day. Minus 30, it doesn’t matter. We’re out there for a couple hours.”
Now in his 17th NHL season, the 36-year-old Schenn is in the final year of his contract and facing an uncertain future. Still, he said it’s been nice to settle in Winnipeg — especially after a whirlwind stretch last March that saw him traded twice in a matter of days, from Nashville to Pittsburgh and then to Winnipeg.
“That rocked our world a little bit,” he said.
“You’re not really expecting anything and then all of a sudden you’re gone. Kids are in school, all kinds of activities and everything changes.”
Along with his wife, Jeska, and their third son, who is two, the family is embracing the Prairie lifestyle — including, of course, early mornings at the rink. Holidays, too.
If you happen to see Schenn at the Hockey For All Centre in the coming days, feel free to say hello. You may just want to cool your jets when it comes to discussing the current state of his own team, which limped into the five-day holiday break at 15-17-3.
“People for the most part are always really good. You’ll get the odd person that comes up and tries to tell you how to play,” said Schenn.
“You just kind of laugh it off. It goes with the territory. But the Winnipeg community has been great.”
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Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.
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