Hrechka, 16, scored the first-ever goal for the Warman Wildcats of the Sask Male U18 AAA Hockey League on Nov. 8, picking up his team’s lone marker in a 5-1 loss to the Saskatoon Contacts.
And while oral history might turn it into breakaway dipsy doodle to the top shelf, it was a little more simple than that.
“It was on the power play, I got a pass from the top and I’m the one-timer guy, so I hit the one-timer and it went in,” Hrechka said from Warman on Friday afternoon.
Nothing all that spectacular. A clean cross-ice pass from fellow rearguard Brody Mortensen, and into the back of the net. You can watch that right here. What was rather interesting was his goal celebration, though, and the amazing prediction that preceded it.
“I was so excited, I pointed into the stands at my billet dad (Al Ching) because he told me today was my day and I was going to score in the first period on the first power play. And I scored in the first period and first power play.” Hrechka said with a laugh. “It’s like I said later ‘it was exactly like you said, so I pointed at you after I scored.”
Officially, Hrechka’s goal came on the man advantage at the 9:09 mark of the first period and tied the game 1-1. Humboldt’s Mortensen and Melfort’s Dagan Carlson drew the assists.
A former Prairie Hockey Academy product who played the past two seasons in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League, Hrechka is quickly finding his way in a new community and new teammates.
“Oh yeah, it’s getting good,” he said. “I’m starting to get used to living away from home and just getting my routine down with school and COVID and hockey and the gym and everything. It’s getting a lot better all the time.”
And while the Wildcats are still looking for their first win -- they dropped a 4-0 decision to the Battlefords Stars in their opener on Nov. 1 before following with a 3-0 loss to Moose Jaw Warriors top prospect Brayden Yager and the Contacts on Nov. 6 -- Hrechka has already seen improvement
“(Against Battlefords) it took us awhile just to get our feet under us, being a new team, then we played the Contacts the last two games and they’re one of the top teams in the league, so we had a tough time with them,” Hrechka said. “We had good games, but we just couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net. So we’re looking forward to (Nov. 13 against Tisdale) and hopefully changing that and getting our first win.”
As for how things are going with the Wildcats themselves in Warman, it hasn’t taken long for Saskatoon bedroom community of 10,000 to warm up to the newest team in town.
“Right at the start, we got out in the community as a team and ran tryouts for the Initiation kids and the Novice kids, so we kind of got our foot in the door and got to interact with some of the parents and some of the children that way,” Hrechka said. “That’s helped getting more people supporting us, our name is getting around and we’re more part of the community now.”
Usually, that would lead to a packed rink every night. But with COVID-19 restrictions keeping things limited to 150 fans, that hasn’t happened yet.
Not that Hrechka has any doubts it will.
“We pack it out every night, there’s more people who want to come in but they can’t because we don’t have the room,” he said. “Hopefully when this is all over we get a chance to fill that thing because I know we could… everyone looks up to us because we’re the top team in town. I don’t know half the people around here yet and they all know who I am, it’s amazing.”
