(Article written by Jamie Neugebauer)
Kyle Adamson is a busy man.
Husband, father, Kindersley Klippers’ governor and vice president, Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League board chair, hockey coach, and managing owner of Integra Tire in Kindersley.
He has a lot on the go, so how does he find the time?
“The support of my wife, mostly,” Adamson says with a laugh.
“The hockey is kind of an escape for me from work and whatnot. I’m pretty passionate about our community, so I try and give back as much as I can. Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day, but I do what I love and I love what I do.”
Adamson, 35, originally hails from the village of Netherhill, a small community just to the east of Kindersley. His family moved right into the town of Kindersley when he was five, and quickly began to billet players in their house; so his love of the Klippers is deeply entrenched in his blood.
To say his time as part of the leadership core of the Klippers has been eventful would be an understatement.
He and his wife Lexie started billeting for the team in 2017-2018, the same year as the Humboldt bus crash, as the profoundness of that event moved the Adamsons to get involved with the club. Then at the year-end banquet, the call went out for new board members, and Kyle and the family stepped up again.
Two years later while on a family vacation in Mexico, Kyle was named team governor, and then upon returning home, the first item for him to attend to was to vote with the league on whether to continue the post-season in March of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to rage.
“When I decided that this is what I wanted to do, like every single thing in my life, if I commit to something I am going to give it 110 percent,” he says.
“I am not afraid of a challenge, and this role has certainly been one, but I am all in. These kids on this team deserve my best, the kids that move here, the kids that are from here, they are giving up one, two, three years of their life for the most part, and it can be the greatest thing in the world, or their biggest regret. It’s my mission to make it so that there is no possible way for it to be a regret to come to Kindersley.”
On top of it all, Kyle has helped President Brett Sautner and the board in the process of hiring two coaches in the three years he has been in the role, and was also on the SJHL’s Board of Governor’s Management Committee with the responsibility of bringing in the new commissioner of the league upon the departure of Bill Chow throughout the 2021-2022 campaign.
The deliberations for that critical choice, which ultimately ended in the appointment of Kyle McIntyre, weighed heavily on Adamson and everyone involved.
“That whole process of hiring ‘Mac’ was very long,” he says, “and something that the group of us who sat on the hiring committee and did all the interviews and everything took very seriously.
“There were some sleepless nights worrying about whether this candidate or that candidate would be better but I think ultimately when it comes down to it, we had a consensus that (Kyle) was the right guy for the job. He is a compassionate guy, and he understands people’s directions. Still, he is also forward-thinking and understands that while we all have our unique problems, we also need to get moving forward to develop our programs for the modern day. I think the number of things we have done as a league in the last year and a half, the hardest part of the role right now for him is probably going to be to keep that momentum going forward. We have taken huge strides as a league, and I hope he feels supported by me because I have total faith in him to continue doing what needs to be done for the betterment of this league. I don’t always agree with him, but I think he’s doing a great job.”
Yet as much as Adamson wants the SJHL to thrive, the passion in his voice rises another notch still when he talks about the hunger for the Kindersley Klippers to be a winning franchise on the ice and the passion with which he goes about his business is not lost in the slightest on the players.
“Seeing how hard he works and everything he does means a lot to us on the team,” says Kindersley captain and local Logan Linklater.
“How much time and effort he puts into our squad, how bad he wants to win, you can sense it when you talk to him. He brings a presence every day where we know that he’s all in for us, and wants to see the best out of us. We see what he does, and it makes us want to go out there and get the results for him. He always has (the players best at heart), so I think that’s all you can ask for in a higher-up in your organization. We are all very appreciative of him and his family, and the example he sets every single day sets a great example for all of us.”
Adamson’s family has been involved with Integra Tire, a network of independent tire, automotive and maintenance dealers across Canada since his father started working there in 1986. His parents purchased the Kindersley business in 1999, and then Kyle bought out his parents in March of 2023.
His wife and her family own a farm north of nearby Rosetown, and his kids are heavily involved around town, but while Kyle and Lexi’s lives are full, they always find time and energy to give everything they have to the game they love.
“(We) have lots of fun,” says Kyle, who also relishes his role as the in-arena announcer at Klippers’ home games at the West Central Events Centre.
“This is all a way to give back to the hockey community because I feel like I had taken a lot out of it. Whether it’s my role with the Klippers or the league, I am totally committed to giving everything I have. I am here for our team, I am here for all the other teams to listen, to fight for them if need be, but honestly, I love all of it. I have made a lot of connections through hockey, I love going to the meetings, I love talking hockey, and I love the SJHL. So, it’s all been awesome.”
“I just applaud Kyle’s energy and his commitment to the game,” adds Commissioner Kyle McIntyre.
“He wears multiple hats, and he’s constantly giving back to hockey in his community, and in our league, which clearly indicates to me that he has joy and a passion, and must have had a great experience in the game as a kid himself.”
Adamson’s daughter Mady is 11 and is an active agricultural social media influencer, and his son Barrett, who is 9 years old, is “too much like his dad,” Kyle says.
