Pushor, Versteeg, Hirsche and Boulet named to LMHA Wall of Honour

Pushor played parts of four seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes before graduating to Adirondack and eventually making it to Detroit where he won a Stanley Cup in 1997.

Versteeg was in attendance on Sunday afternoon. The former Lethbridge Hurricane, who won a pair of Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010 and 2015, had some fun with the “northside tough” part included in the induction speech by Boulet’s father Toby, who was Versteeg’s teacher in high school.

“It was very kind of Toby. I know when I went to Winston Churchill, we’re all very proud especially the north siders in Lethbridge. It’s very humbling to get called that I guess, and I know a lot of my friends growing up would be pretty proud of that title too,” Versteeg said.

Even for someone who’s tasted champagne out of the Stanley Cup, Versteeg admits this was special for him.

“It’s special for myself, but it’s a little more special for my family. My grandparents, my oma, my auntie and everyone who’s here. To be able to see everything you put into the game recognized, and I know for the other players that have been recognized as well it’s been pretty special for their families and seeing the emotions.

“For Jamie Pushor, he’s a guy who when he was the Hurricanes, he was someone I looked up to when I was a young kid and watching him play,” Versteeg continued. “Seeing Jamie recognized for helping bring hockey players in my generation along was very special for me to be a part of.”

He also knew both Hirsche and Boulet.

“I’ve known Brock for a very long time, used to go out and help coach his hockey teams. I knew Brock on a very personal level and got to know his parents as well. Then I knew Toby from him teaching me at Winston Churchill and teaching my brothers.”

Versteeg says his brother Mitch had a more personal relationship with Logan when he coached him at Bruce Bell’s hockey school.

“There are always a lot of connections in the hockey world. You wish you weren’t in this situation, but for them to be recognized for everything they’ve done and for their families to be recognized for all the work they put in is very special.”

The spring of this past year was a difficult one for both the Hirsche and Boulet families, but Sunday was an opportunity to honour and remember the memories of both Brock and Logan.

The Humboldt Broncos bus crash that claimed the lives of 16 people, including Boulet happened on April 6, and just two days later after a lengthy battle with testicular cancer, Hirsche passed away at the age of 26.

Toby Boulet says he along with his wife Bernadine are very honoured and proud of the work Logan did both as a hockey player and a young man.

“We’re proud of the work we’re doing as a family for his choice to be an organ donor and the recognition that he’s earning that’s deserving,” he continued. “But it’s more so for all the angels that went before Logan that they’re not getting any recognition.”

“It’s part of the whole package, but we sure are honoured that Lethbridge Minor Hockey chose Logan as one of the four inductees.”

On his 21st birthday Boulet decided to become an organ donor, and since his passing, it’s been called the Logan Boulet effect across the country, as he inspired thousands of Canadians to sign up themselves to become organ donors.

Before the Wall of Honour ceremony, the last time the Boulets had been in Nicholas Sheran Arena was for their son’s celebration of life in April, so this was a much more celebratory and happy occasion for them.

“To be here at the same time as Kris Versteeg who knew Logan, as Brock Hirsche who knew Logan, and Jamie Pushor who I knew as a young man, it’s exciting for me and it’s an honour for us to be a part of this. This is one of the good days in the last seven months,” Boulet said.

Hirche’s parents, Tim and Sharla, were on hand Sunday and reflected on what this meant to them and what it would’ve meant to Brock.

“It’s pretty amazing, Brock would probably be a little bit overwhelmed as we are, but he would be very proud,” Tim said.

While discussing some of Brock’s pregame routines and how committed he was to hockey, Tim also told local media a story about a note Hirsche wrote to himself as a boy.

“He had a post-it note on the fridge for years and when he was drafted to the Western Hockey League by the [Prince George] Cougars and was playing his first game, I said ‘Brock, how old were you when you put that post-it note on the fridge?’ He said, ‘I was seven,’ and the post-it note said “My goal is to play in the WHL and if things go well, the NHL,” Hirsche explained.

The entire Wall of Fame idea was made possible thanks to Mosaic Corporation Canada, out of Saskatchewan, who donated $5,000 to the home arena of each of the 16 players that passed away in the Humboldt accident for a total of $80,000.

$2,500 went towards the Lethbridge Minor Hockey Wall of Honour out of the $5,000 given to Nicholas Sheran Arena, and the $2,500 went to the midget AAA Hurricane’s dressing room.

Since minor hockey was the focus, beyond the obvious contributions these players have made in Lethbridge and beyond, some of them discussed fond memories of the past.

Bernadine Boulet mentioned a couple of stories from Logan’s midget hockey years.

“When he was in AA midget, his team won both the South Central Alberta Hockey League and they got to go to Red Deer and beat Red Deer in their barn. And then they were provincial champions that year also.“When he was in AAA midget they went to a tournament in Kelowna, and they won that, and they beat out all these prep schools,” she said. “It was pretty cool because the boys said you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to be a championship team.”

Versteeg spoke about his first ever hockey team starting off with Hagen Electric, through to playing for the Val Matteotti Golden Hawks, but in particular, mentioned his Bantam AAA team that won the Pepsi Challenge in Lethbridge.

“We won that tournament that year and finished second in provincials. To have three NHLers off one Bantam AAA team, then three other players who had NCAA scholarships, and two more who played in the WHL. Seven of those players have played professional hockey from one Bantam AAA team, it’s pretty special and that’s my fondest memory. All the players that pushed each other from a young age, and kind of helped drive a new set of kids to enjoy playing hockey in this city is something I think we’ve all taken pride in,” Versteeg stated.

by Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Pushor, Versteeg, Hirsche and Boulet named to LMHA Wall of Honour

What's Happening