(Taken from the Notre Dame Hounds chapter of ‘the Heart and Soul of the SJHL’ book, by Jamie Neugebauer. Book compiled by Rod Pedersen)
The 20 years between the stepping back of Barry MacKenzie and the present day were full of names now recognizable to NHL, professional, and international hockey fans.
Local boys Jeff and Jason Ulmer used big offensive seasons between 1994 and 1996 to launch themselves to the prestigious halls of the University of North Dakota and lengthy pro and international careers. Still playing in Austria at 40, Jeff realized his dream in the 2000-2001 season, featuring in 21 games for the New York Rangers and scoring three goals. Between 2003 and 2018, he played on an incredible 18 teams in various European leagues, from Switzerland to Belarus, all the while remaining healthy through over 800 games played.
Brad McEwan, the Whitewood, SK native who took over the Junior A program as head coach and general manager between 1996 and 1998, knew he had a genuine star when an average-sized teenager from P.E.I. named Brad Richards graduated from the Hounds AAA midget program.
Richards’ friend Vincent Lecavalier, whom NHL fans may also know, had elected to go straight from the Notre Dame high school program to Major Junior with the Rimouski Oceanic. Still, the Islander genuinely thought he needed more time, and staying at his home-away-from-home in Wilcox to play some junior hockey as a 16-year-old was an easy choice.
“I did not have the same opportunity as Vinny because he was a lot quicker and stronger than I was at that point,” says Richards.
“There is no doubt that playing at Notre Dame with the Junior team under Coach McEwan helped me grow, and it was probably my biggest year of growth to that point, to realize that I can play the game and play with older guys. Being a key part of the team was an opportunity I was offered and cherished, and I was able to grab it.”
Richards, along with the Ulmers’ cousin Trent (another Hound who went on to play NCAA Division I hockey), former Calgary Flames prospect goaltender Matt Underhill, and the others on that young and impressive 1996-97 team, eventually lost out to the Lebret Eagles in a tough Round 1 series. Yet Richards, whose 39 goals and 87 points led the Hounds that year, was launched from that team to a remarkable hockey career, posting 932 points in 1,126 games with five different NHL teams, and went on to win two Stanley Cups (in 2003-04 with Tampa Bay, and 2015-15 with Chicago), and the 2004 World Cup gold medal for Canada.
“Going to Notre Dame was the biggest adjustment of my life,” Richards says.
“Moving from (P.E.I.) to the prairies was a big difference in the way of life, and it was overwhelming and scary at times. When I got on the ice, I felt at peace, and when I realized I belonged and could play, everything else calmed down. I just started living life in the dorms, growing friendships and growing through ups and downs in every part of my life, and I also learned to grow up quickly. I learned at a young age to see the ups and downs coming and to learn how to handle them better; Notre Dame was huge for me.”
Although the developmental success stories continued—stories like Richards, the Ulmers, and Coach McEwan—who would go on to become Head of Scouting for Hockey Canada in 2017—the team itself had been unable to get past the quarter-finals of the SJHL playoffs since that magical 1988 campaign.
That finally changed in 1998-1999. Brilliantly backstopped by a two-headed monster of Joey Gallant and SJHL Goaltender of the Year David Burleigh, the Hounds went 40-20-6 in an intensely competitive South Division, giving up the league’s fewest goals against in the process. Their reward was a Round 1 date with the high-powered RBC Cup host Yorkton Terriers. Burleigh, Trent Ulmer, future Latvian National Team defenceman Agris Saviels, Miami of Ohio standout Danny Stewart (now the head coach of the Coventry Blaze in the English Ice Hockey League), and company were able to outlast the Terriers in one of the most epic playoff series in Notre Dame history, taking Game 7 in Yorkton to advance.
That series took a lot out of the group; however, the team under coach Mike Wirachowsky and general manager Mike Rooney could not advance to the next round against the eventual SJHL champion Estevan Bruins.
At the turn of the millennium, the young Hounds changed head coaches from Wirachowsky to Rene Lemire, and as much as the 1990s struggled in terms of results, the early 2000s were the opposite.
Future NHL goaltender Curtis McElhinney played in net for a rebuilding squad in 2000-01. Still, between 2001 and 2003, the club finished with two first-place finishes in the regular season, winning 69 games and losing only 35 contests. Those years saw the likes of future Washington Capital and Vancouver Canuck Andrew Gordon and Columbus Blue Jacket and Washington Capital Andrew Joudrey play for a Notre Dame team that was almost unbeatable at the Duncan McNeill Arena. McElhinney’s goaltending partner in 2000-01 was Scott Munroe, and the Moose Jaw native developed brilliantly, winning a spot on the 2001-02 SJHL All-Star Team and earning league top goaltender honours that campaign. He went on to a long career in the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins farm systems.
The ultimate goal of a championship continued to elude Lemire’s men. His injury-plagued crew eventually lost the conference final to the Humboldt Broncos in 01-02, while the 02-03 group, who were the first to have the whole team stay all together in one dorm on campus, as they do to this day, showed their youth in a disappointing quarter-final upset at the hands of the Melville Millionaires.
Lemire moved on to ultimately coach the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL after two massive regular seasons between 2004 and 2006. During these seasons, the Hounds won over 30 games in the competitive Sherwood Division, but they crashed out in the playoffs to the powerhouse Yorkton Terriers both times.
Notables in those years were a young Teddy Purcell, who played for the Hounds in 03-04 and then played in 599 NHL contests with the Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, and Florida Panthers. He and Gordon, alongside future Team Canada World Junior and Washington Capitals first-round pick Sasha Pokulok, were in that young group, which ultimately lost out in Round 1 to Weyburn.
The 04-05 team featured rookie defenceman Keith Aulie, who went on to play in the 2008 World Juniors and 167 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Edmonton Oilers.
The 2008-09 Hounds famously included the Schwartz brothers of Melfort, SK. The younger Jaden eventually was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2010 draft and featured on multiple Canadian national teams. Rylan, the older by two years, would lead the SJHL that year in scoring, although the Hounds struggled to a last-place finish.
The following season’s 32-win team was a skillful group, backstopped by future ND Goaltending Coach Russell ‘Rusty’ Abbott. It was also the rookie campaign for Carson Grolla, who would go on to win SJHL Defenceman of the Year in 2011-12 and who, with 236 appearances, has worn the ND Junior ‘A’ sweater more times than anybody at the time of writing.
“I was never a flashy offensive guy,” says Grolla of his Notre Dame career.
“I just put that work in every day and used the facilities on campus, the advantage in Wilcox to just focus on hockey, and with the honour of being the captain, and of playing for everybody on campus, and not wanting to let anyone down, it helped elevate my game. It’s cool to have played that many games, and I know that my time at Notre Dame, being in the dorm for four years, representing something so special, really prepared me for college.”
Grolla played four years of Division I NCAA hockey with American International College before featuring in the 2018 Allan Cup with his Sr. A Rosetown Red Wings.
