(Golden Sheaf profile written by Jamie Neugebauer/SJHL Co-Director of Media)
In the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, few players embody the connection between agriculture and hockey quite like Sam and Will Kirwan.
Raised in the tight-knit farming community of Gull Lake in southwest Saskatchewan, the 18-year-old twins have carried their rural work ethic directly onto the ice with the Battlefords North Stars—becoming a perfect reflection of what the Canterra Seeds Golden Sheaf Program celebrates.
The brothers grew up surrounded by agriculture: sheep, cattle, and a family farm operation known as Kirwan Farms. From the time they were young, their days were shaped by early mornings, livestock chores, and long hours in the field. As Will puts it, “We’ve always been around the farm and we’ve always played hockey at the same time. Staying at work, staying active, staying dedicated to hockey—both things help each other.”
For Sam, a left-shot forward, the connection between farm life and athletics is even more direct.
“Farming really keeps you active,” he says. “You make sure you’re up in the morning to grease the combines, feed the sheep, lift bales—it really builds character. If you can lift a bale, you can forecheck against a 200-pound defenceman.”
This past year, the twins stepped into even more responsibility on the family operation, taking on much of the cropping workload alongside their father Jeff. Durum, canola, flax, peas, and lentils make up their rotation, and the brothers learned quickly what it means to manage both a farm and a future in junior hockey.
“Last year we only had one class in school, so it was mostly seeding all day and just an hour of school,” Sam says. “It was our first year really taking over.”
Jeff played over 300 games in the Western Hockey League with the Swift Current Broncos between 1993 and 1998, and their uncle Chris is an SJHL alumnus, parlaying a solid two-year career with the Melville Millionaires into a four-year NCAA Division I career at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Gull Lake itself is a farming hub of fewer than a thousand people—where everyone knows everyone and agriculture connects every family. Will notes that the area’s three surrounding Hutterite colonies make farming even more central to community life.
It’s also a region that has quietly produced strong junior players, including former North Stars captain Cody Spagrud. “I remember watching him play a game in Gull Lake,” Will recalls. “He really brought the North Stars to our community and put it in our minds that it actually is within reach to play.”
Gull Lake also produced Las Vegas Golden Knights Director of Professional scouting Jim McKenzie, who played in 931 regular and post-season games in the NHL with Hartford, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Phoenix, Anaheim, Washington, New Jersey, and Nashville.
The Kirwan’s path to the SJHL took a memorable turn in 2023 when both were drafted by the North Stars in the first round—a moment they witnessed on a phone during science class. “We were watching it in class,” Sam says. “We got a call a couple minutes later saying they drafted both of us.”
Now rookies in the Battlefords lineup, the twins have embraced learning from the club’s veteran core. Sam, playing up front, has found inspiration in the North Stars’ experienced forwards. “When that top line is going, the whole team’s going,” he says. “We follow their lead. They’re always talking in the room, and it gives us rookies someone to watch.”
Will, patrolling the blue line, looks to older teammates like Gavin Granger and Linken Fisher for guidance.
“Watching their poise with the puck, their shot, how they control the game—you pick up as much as you can,” he says. He still remembers Granger’s five-point night against Kindersley early in the year, admitting he was “kind of in shock” at the performance.
Though the twins share similar roles and responsibilities, a hint of sibling competitiveness remains. Last season Will edged his brother by two points with the Swift CurrenLegionnaires, but he insists it’s all in good fun.
“It’s not really a competition,” he laughs. “Just trying to do good for both of us.”
As the North Stars continue their season, the Kirwan twins approach each day like they would a morning on the farm—with discipline, consistency, and an understanding that nothing grows without hard work. Their story, like many in the SJHL, is one of community, family, resilience, and the way Saskatchewan’s agricultural backbone doesn’t just produce crops, but also produces tough, humble, team-first hockey players.
They are farmers who happen to be very good at hockey—and for the North Stars, that combination is proving to be something special.
