After a Junior A career that sent him to Drumheller and Fort McMurray, Mike Marianchuk, 21, finally captured the prize he was aiming for all along – a post-secondary hockey scholarship.
Next year the Innisfail native will be part of the inaugural Red Deer College Kings hockey squad set to grace the Penhold Regional Multiplex ice surface, while pursuing a kinesiology degree.
“It's a great opportunity. It's the first year they're bringing it back,” he said. “I'm going to have my family a lot closer.”
After four years in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, Marianchuk will go after a fitness and health diploma and hopes one day to go into firefighting and be a personal trainer on the side.
“It's more or less going to be focusing on school now,” he said. “I just want to keep playing hockey as long as I can.”
He has fond memories of playing on the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, particularly his first season, when the team made a run for the championship. They even made it to game six of the finals, before being defeated by the Brooks Bandits.
“It's the furthest I've ever been on a hockey team,” he said, noting the key to team cohesion was not to get too stressed out. “The best thing to do is keep things light. All the guys are nice and relaxed before the game.”
So far, he said, the days playing for the Oil Barons were the best of his life.
“You get to hang around with all your friends every day and play hockey every day,” he said. “It's just a great feeling when you go on the ice and there's actually people paying to see you play hockey. It just motivates you to do your best and try to succeed.”
Marianchuk is used to moving around, since his father was with the RCMP. Arriving in Innisfail after one such relocation, he joined the minor hockey league to play atom.
“I met some of my best buddies playing hockey.”
His time in Innisfail set him up for the days ahead, he added.
“By playing minor hockey it helped me get my fundamentals and create a good base for developing my skills,” he said.
