KINDERSLEY - Happily settled into his post as assistant coach for the Calgary Buffaloes under-18 AAA team, Larry Wintoneak assumed he was done with junior hockey for good.
A phone call from home changed all that and, instead, the former Kindersley Klippers head coach finds himself leading the Kam River Fighting Walleye into the Centennial Cup national junior A championship – in Calgary no less.
The Walleye won their opening game 2-1 Friday over the Trenton Golden Hawks and continue their tournament Sunday against the Grande Prariie Storm.
“I was pretty content here. I was happy with the AAAs,” Wintoneak told Â鶹´«Ã½AV in a phone interview. “I wasn’t really searching for anything, then the call came and sometimes when calls come you have to jump on the opportunity.”
That call came last October from Walleye general manager Kevin McCallum – a long-ago member of Wintoneak’s staff from his time with the Dryden Ice Dogs.
Kam River had hired a new coach in the offseason and sported a 7-5 win-loss record but had higher ambitions after winning the Superior International Junior Hockey League championship in 2022-23 and reaching the league final last season.
“So Kevin gave me a call in October and said they might make a change here and do I have interest,” Wintoneak continued. “I said I’m not too sure, I’m pretty happy here, and da da da. The next week he called me again and said ‘I’m serious, I’m going to make a change here. Are you interested?’
“And it took me about 25 seconds to say yes.”
Playing out of Oliver Paipoonge, Ont., minutes west of Wintoneak’s hometown of Thunder Bay, the Walleye responded well to the change.
They finished second in the regular season standings with a 36-13-1-0 record, allowing a league-low 118 goals in 50 games, and earned their spot in the national junior A championship tournament by winning the SIJHL title in six games over Wintoneak’s old team from Dryden.
That was far from the only coincidence of the day though.
“On April 29, 1995, I was in Thunder Bay coaching the Thunder Bay Flyers and we ended up winning the Hewitt Cup and we advanced to the Centennial Cup that year, which was held in Gloucester, just outside of Ottawa,” Wintoneak recalled.
“Then April 29, 2025, we win the championship and get to go to Calgary to go to the Centennial Cup, 30 years to the day.”
Wintoneak added that Kam River assistant coach Vern Ray was also on the ice on April 29, 1995, helping another Thunder Bay area team – the Senators – to the Colonial Cup as International Hockey League champions.
“It’s an unbelievable story,” Wintoneak marvelled. “It’s pretty cool.”
Wintoneak coached four-and-a-half seasons for the SJHL’s Klippers from 2006-10, returned as assistant coach for three seasons from 2016-19 and then served one more year as head coach in 2019-20.
And after four seasons away from junior hockey, the newly-minted 67 year old plans to savour every minute of his newest coaching adventure.
“There are only 118 junior A teams in Canada so to get another chance to coach junior hockey at this level ...” he trailed off.
“Just because of my age doesn’t mean you’re not able to coach and so you want to be able to take that opportunity and be grateful to be involved in stuff like this. I like to think good things happen to good people and for this to happen, I really hope it means I’ve served my time well, and to have this opportunity, I just couldn’t be more grateful.”
Kam River will continue its Centennial Cup quest Sunday against the Grande Prairie Storm, Monday against the Northern Manitoba Blizzard, and Wednesday against the Greater Sudbury Cubs.
Playoffs begin May 16 and the gold medal game is scheduled for May 18.
Other west-central connections at the tournament include two members of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League-champion Melfort Mustangs – forward Austin Shepherd (Kerrobert) and assistant coach Tye Scherger (Macklin).
