Koch SUPERU – Change the Way You Grow
Dave Leaderhouse
The Weyburn Red Wings had yet to hit the win column before the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League suspended play to its regular schedule in November, but the club did get to have a sneak preview of its bounty of first-year players before the stoppage was announced.
One of the freshmen that turned some heads was 18-year-old winger Jackson Hassman. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound product from Prince George, B.C., tallied the Red Wings’ first goal of the season when he netted his maiden SJHL goal in the dying seconds of the opening period of an overtime loss to the Notre Dame Hounds.
Hassman would add an assist in another overtime setback to the Melville Millionaires one week later and with Weyburn managing just nine goals in the five games they played that translates to Hassman being involved in nearly a quarter of their total output. Hassman only dressed in four of those games and coincidentally the one game he was not in the line-up was a lopsided loss to the Estevan Bruins.
Hassman arrived in southeast Saskatchewan after spending the last two seasons with the Cariboo Cougars of the British Columbia U18 Midget Hockey League. In 40 games with the Cougars during the 2019-20 campaign he scored a pair of goals and set up 19 others while in his first season with that squad he saw limited action, but was still part of a team that captured the league championship.
Weyburn missed out on the post-season a year ago, but were hoping an influx of new young talent would point them in the right direction this time around. While the sample size is small, the Red Wings were competitive out of the gate as, the lopsided loss to Estevan aside, they battled to the end in each of their other four outings.
Players like Hassman will play a big role in the continued progress of the team and with two more years of junior eligibility remaining, the Red Wings have plenty to look forward to.
