By Peter Watts /

Dave Chartier has done just about everything in hockey in Saskatoon.

He came up through the city’s minor hockey program with stops along the way with the Contacts and Blazers Midget programs, the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

For parts of the past decade, he’s been an assistant coach with the Blades. And now, together with some other folks who believe in giving back to the game, he’s set to become the managing partner of the Blazers AAA Midget program.

“The Blazers and the Contacts are run by Saskatoon minor hockey, but each program has a local operator,” Chartier said. “We see an opportunity to make the Blazers a real program of excellence in this area and made our pitch to Saskatoon minor hockey when the opportunity presented itself.

“Apparently minor hockey liked what we suggested and so now we’re assembling a staff and putting together a list of potential players.”

Everything begins with leadership and good community people and the Blazers have that in spades. In addition to Chartier, who owns a car dealership and has some other business interests in Saskatoon, Blades boss Jack Brodsky has joined the group.

Chartier’s mentor, Joe Blosky, who’s involvement in Saskatoon minor hockey stretches back for decades, is also on board. So are Ken Wasden, who will be in charge of game day operations, and Bob Fawcett, who’ll handle player-personnel duties.

“Bob’s a real asset in that role,” Chartier said. “He scouts for the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL so he has a good handle on the bantam prospects in the area. And we’ve assembled what I think is a pretty good coaching staff, headed by Rene Lemaire, who was an assistant with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL.

“He’ll have Randy Smith as one of his assistants. Randy is a former head coach in Swift Current who’s currently working in Saskatoon. And he’ll have former Detroit Red Wing netminder, Tim Chevaldaye to help with the goalies. That’s a pretty good staff for a triple-A Midget team.

“Our goal is to attract and to develop young men as hockey players and as people. We have a good talent base to draw from here in Saskatoon. We want to make the Blazers a team that young players want to join. Certainly we have an excellent league to play in, and if we can make this an enjoyable experience for them and show that we can develop their skills, we think those are the ingredients for a 
successful program.”

The starting point for next season will be the 14 players who are eligible to come back for another year.

“Some of them will be going to WHL camps and perhaps one or two will stick,” says Chartier. But we expect the bulk of them to return. Then we’ll see what Bob is able to add and go from there.”

There’s another incentive for Dave to do well with the Blazers. His brother, Mark, is an assistant on the staff of the Saskatoon Contacts, the ‘other’ AAA Midget team in Saskatoon.

“Dad has had a good chuckle about all of this,” Dave said. “Mark and I are still pretty competitive and we’ve had a few lively discussions about what will happen on the ice next season. Dad’s getting a kick out of this.”

Nothing like a little competition to stir the Midget AAA pot in Saskatoon. It should make the rink a fun place to be when the two teams get together next season. And if it raises the performance bar a bit in the city, that should be good for the players and for the game — and that’s as good as it gets.