MJHL Plug

Just a quick blog post today, as the life of a CreCommer has picked up its pace. I'm throwing out a plug for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The MJHL is full of fast-paced, exciting hockey featuring some talented up and coming players. The league features 3 Winnipeg area teams: the Winnipeg Saints, the Winnipeg South Blues, and the Selkirk Steelers. It also features 8 other teams from all over the province; from the south (Winkler Flyers) to the north (OCN Blizzard and Swan Valley Stampeders) and the east (Steinbach Pistons) to the west (Neepawa Natives, Portage Terriers, Waywayseecapo Wolverines, and Dauphin Kings). If you have a chance you can catch Saints games at Dakota Arena and Blues games at Century Arena here in the city.




I'm also writing for the MJHL Website, so I guess I'm plugging myself as well. Steve Dreger and I are feature writers. We basically profile current players who are making an impact in the league and former players who have moved on to bigger stages, like the NCAA. Here's an article I wrote about Selkirk Steelers' playmaker, Colan Jackson.

Steelers' Jackson happy to be back in MJHL

It’s a tough decision to uproot yourself and move all the way across the country. For Colan Jackson, the Selkirk Steelers’ play maker, the journey to the University of Guelph to play for the Gryphons, was the right choice at the time.

“It was a decision to get going with school and start up the education a little sooner,” Jackson said of his decision to make the move to Southern Ontario. “Guelph had a good program and I decided to give it a try.”

Jackson found that the situation was not the right fit for him and wouldn’t allow him to improve his game as much as he would have liked.

“Each day during training camp, more and more guys kept showing up and I didn’t think that I’d get the ice time that I wanted,” he said.

The decision to leave Guelph and return to Selkirk was an easy one for Jackson because he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his education by coming back.

“It wasn’t a tough decision at all,” he said. “I’m applying to go back to school for the second semester and hoping to get a scholarship, playing the next few years here in Selkirk.”

Steelers head coach, Ryan Smith, believes that Jackson’s return is important to the team’s success.

“He’s a veteran player and a leader, both on and off the ice,” Smith said. “His main weapon is his offence and we rely on it, as that’s a big part of our team strategy.”

Jackson sees himself and his strengths the same way.

“I try to step up and be a team leader, not just on the ice,” Jackson said. “I try to play hard at both ends of the ice and hopefully chip in offensively.”

Jackson and the Steelers have a score to settle with the Portage Terriers, who defeated them in last year’s final. He anticipates the road to the MJHL championship going through Portage.

“We want to make another trip back to the final, hopefully it would be against Portage, and after that, the RBC Cup,” Jackson said.