Leader Post Story on Nick Needham

Needham fits into the prairie lifestyle

Tim Switzer
The Leader-Post


Tuesday, September 25, 2007


Over the last three hockey seasons, Nick Needham has played in Denver and Weyburn.

Given the choice, he'll take Weyburn.

Coming from the town of Brookings, S.D., (population: 10,000), Weyburn is much more his style.

"There's no traffic jams here like in Denver," the 19-year-old Needham, a defenceman with the Weyburn Red Wings, said with a chuckle. "It's just more of a solid community than a big city. It's just peaceful and quiet."

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League turned out to be his style as well. He first heard about the league in the spring, when a coach with the Rocky Mountain Wranglers suggested it would be a fit for Needham. The blueliner attended Weyburn's spring camp shortly thereafter and was hooked. He signed his card to join the team that same weekend.

"It was the style of hockey," said Needham, 6-foot-0 and 195 pounds. "There's more grit and competitiveness and it's not so much laidback."

So far, Needham has fit right into such a league. He is described as a stay-at-home defenceman who does little things routinely -- a fine way to play considering he is paired with an offensive-minded defenceman in Stephen Simms.

Needham is such a classical rearguard that he is becoming somewhat of a rarity in hockey today, said Red Wings head coach Dwight McMillan.

"He's close to 200 pounds and he's very strong -- all he's lacking is experience," said McMillan. "Simms plays with his feet so (Needham) is going to face some two-on-ones and he does it very well."

By the end of the season, Needham might just be the best conditioned player in the league as well. Because he is from the U.S. and doesn't have a work or student visa, he has to find something else to occupy his time besides a job or school. So between the Wings' morning skate and their afternoon practice, Needham spends about three hours working out in the gym.

"It makes for a tiring day," said Needham, one of just six players in the SJHL this season who list an American city as their hometown.

It's not like Needham wasn't already in good shape, though. Between winters playing hockey, he works on the family's 1,700-acre farm, where the Needhams raise pigs and cattle.

Given that, it's not a big surprise that Needham is hoping to find a university that offers animal science courses as he looks for a hockey scholarship.

He may end up spending another year in Weyburn before moving on to university, but he surely knows he wants to end up back in what he knows best -- a small town.

"There's some good things about the city," said Needham, "But I'm more used to smaller towns."

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Players-of-the-week: Laurent Benjamin of the Humboldt Broncos is the SJHL player-of-the-week. Benjamin scored three goals and added four assists in three games last week as the Broncos went 2-1. His best performance came during the opening game of the September Showcase on Friday when he had a goal and two assists in a 5-0 win over the Kindersley Klippers.

The Estevan Bruins' Kealin Wong, a Regina product, is the defenceman-of-the-week. He had four points last week -- including a two-goal, one-assist performance in a 6-3 win over the Notre Dame Hounds on Thursday -- as the Bruins went 3-0.

Another Regina product, Humboldt's Taylor Nelson is the goaltender-of-the-week. He made 25 saves in the Broncos' 5-0 shutout over the Red Wings on Tuesday and stopped 22 shots against the Klippers on Friday.

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Stat-of-the-Week: Weyburn's quick-strike offence.

Things were not going Weyburn's way Saturday against the Flin Flon Bombers at the September Showcase in Saskatoon. The Bombers had built a 2-0 early in the first period. Weyburn came back and eventually tied the game just 20 seconds into the second frame, but Flin Flon took the lead back 32 seconds later.

Then came the final few minutes of the second. Weyburn scored three times within the span of one minute 17 seconds to take the lead for good in what was a 7-5 Red Wings victory.

Torrey Lindsay opened the scoring surge at 14:36, Brayden Nargang followed that up at 15:21 and Josh Bray rounded it out at 16:53.

Needham and Luke Johnson assisted on Bray and Nargang's goals.

(SJHL Report appears Tuesdays throughout the SJHL season.)

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007