He has his name in the Western Hockey League record books and was one of the best to play in the North Saskatchewan River Hockey League. Now goalie Kelly Guard is going back to the WHL.
Guard backstopped the St. Walburg Eagles to a first place finish in the regular season in the 2010-11 season, before the Eagles bowed out of the playoffs to Paradise Hill.
Guard recently has played senior hockey elsewhere and was a member of the Rosetown Red Wings, who lost the Allan Cup final this season in Lloydminster.
The Prince Albert native played two seasons in the WHL with Kelowna where he led the Rockets to the WHL championship in 2003 and Memorial Cup in 2004. In 2004, Guard set a Canadian Hockey League record while posting the lowest goals against in the Memorial Cup tournament, which led to tournament MVP honours.
Guard has signed on to be the goaltending coach of his hometown Prince Albert Raiders for the 2012-13 season.
"I feel very fortunate to be given this opportunity to work with the Raiders," said Guard in a news story on the WHL's website. "I am very excited to see the talent they have coming in to compete for the team. My main goal this year is to lower the team's goals against average and develop consistency with our netminders."
Prince Albert was last in the WHL this season and allowed 20 more goals than any other team in the league in 72 games.
Guard also played 45 games in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Kindersley Klippers, 26 games in the East Coast Hockey League, 93 in the American Hockey League and he spent a short time in Asia, Austria, Belarus and Italy.
