RHL Spotlight: Mack Jordan

Mack Jordan
C. Davis photo

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Mack Jordan is a familiar personality to Pincher Creek sports fans, having played about 8 years of minor hockey and 4 years of shinney before graduating from the Midget Huskies to become the youngest member of the Senior Huskies this season. He's also an Assistant Coach for Pincher Creek's Bantam Chinooks.  He played high school baseball for 4 years and currently works at Monster Fitness.

"Right now, I'm trying to get certified to be a personal trainer, and trying to gather as much life experience and fitness as I can in one year and see where that takes me," he explained.  "I would like to go back to school next year, but you never know what's going to happen down the road, and that could postpone it for another year."

Mack is also registered as a hockey referee but "I haven't been able to ref as much as I'd like because of my busy schedule".

I asked him if he was going to continue with hockey, and what his aspiration might be.  "If I go to school, I won't be competitive, I don't think, because I won't have the time," he said. For now, if I don't go back to school, I would like to keep playing in the Ranchland.  I think I've hit my limit, and I'm okay with that now.  You have to come to terms with were you're at, and just enjoy it."

Mack missed out on the Senior Huskies big first win last weekend.  He was understandably a bit disappointed by that fact, but happy for his team.

"I wasn't there.  The first game we win, and I wasn't there.  The boys deserved it.  They worked so hard, and are dedicated in practice.  We knew it was going to come, we just had to keep working on it.  It's hard the mental aspect of it fresh, and keep being positive, you're losing for a while, and trying to stay mentally focused and practised  and get better."

Being the youngest guy on the team doesn't seem to faze him much. "You get haggled on a little bit, but a lot of the older guys are nice, too."

"There are a couple of guys that I've come to recognize from minor hockey that I just played all the way up from Atom, you get used to how they play, and at the same time there are a few from minor hockey that I played with for six years together so you know how they move on the ice.  With Shelden (Filipuzzi, RW for the Senior Huskies), I've played with him since my first year of Peewee.  When he's on the ice, I know where he's going to be, it's natural.  At the same time, it's taking a while to get used to a couple of the other guys."


I asked him what the significance of having an RHL team was for younger players coming up.  "It's tough for junior league in Alberta. BC has it set up so that at least one Junior B teams within an hours distance of the next Junior B team.

Here, the closest one is Coaldale or High River, so it's hard to stay in Alberta if you want to play junior.  Unless you're really talented, and go play junior A which is what a couple guys did.  Taylor Elliott played for Brooks, so that's where he went to.  For me, I wanted to try in BC, because it was still getting out of the house and getting life experience, and doing what I love."  In August of this year he tired out for the Beaver Valley Nitehawks, a Junior B hockey club located in Fruitvale, British Columbia, member of the Kootenay International Hockey League.  "It didn't work out while I was there, but I'm glad that I have something to come back to," he said.  "For Junior it's hard to make a team if you're first-year, it really is. You get a lot of the veterans come back."

Challenges

Inevitably, moving from minor hockey to senior hockey comes with some challenges.  "This league I find is pretty physical compared with minor hockey," Mack said.  "I've never been really worried about it but at the same time I was rarely challenged, physically. Now I'm an average size in this league, so it's a lot more challenging.   It keeps your mind fresh, and keeps your body physically demanding more, which I like, it's something I've got to keep working on and it keeps me busy."

"I think the hardest thing for me was getting used to the really late night practices.  Coming from getting off the ice at 9:30... The average body is still awake and functioning but it's shutting down.  It takes a while to get used to doing that, (as opposed to playing) early in the morning, or later in the day."

"A lot of the people on the team work full time.  Kudos for them for to have the dedication to still come to practice and get up early in the morning."

Ice time and teamwork

I asked him how much ice time he was getting.  "Some games it's more than others.  Myself personally and some of the other guys on my team, if we're having a bad game, we should let ourselves cool off for a minute, sit an extra shift.  That all comes down to maturity, and putting the team above yourself.  Which every single one of the guys is all about. It's not you, it's the team."

"In a sense it's hockey, and not everyone has the same talents, but it's always nice to feel included in every aspect."

"I know my limit. I really try not to be stupid with my shifts and change at a bad time. It's hard now because you're always transitioning so fast it's been really hard to adjust to the new players that I've never played with before, and now we're starting to  figure out how each other plays.  So, if a new guy comes on, he goes to the farther side, we'll switch back.  Again it comes with maturity and knowing that if you're tired, there's a guy that can be putting more effort into it."

"The leadership we have on this team is phenomenal.  It stems from the first line to the fourth line."

Anything you want to say to the younger players coming up?

"It's fun being a role model, most of the guys on the team are proud to set a good example for the younger kids.  It's their choice if they want to come up, after.  A lot of guys are going to go to school.  There are some pretty talented guys that can go to junior camps, and can definitely make that.  Everyone's different.  Some guys might not want to go to junior even though they're talented."

"I've coached almost every age group.  I've coached initiation, Pee Wee, Novice, Atom and now Bantam, and a lot of kids.  I have two younger brothers, in two different age groups.  You see them when they're younger, and now I know why parents say 'You grew up so fast'.  Some of these kids, I knew them when they were five years old and now seeing them at ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, they've grown up so much and they still have so much to learn."

"I think we've got a great community of hockey. Every community has their own faults and problems, but people get behind it, it's something to rally behind."

"As long as you're open to learn, and you respect other people it just naturally falls into place.  I never had to work to gain peoples respect.  If you respected people, it just naturally came.

Hockey is a lifestyle

"It's not really a game, especially if you get into it at a young age, it's a lifestyle.  It becomes a habit, and you learn to love it or..."

Reffing

"The reffing definitely helps my sportsmanship side.  These last couple years of Midgets I struggled.  I've always been really aggressive so I got quite a lot of penalties.  Reffing really taught me discipline, and respect, for the referees themselves.  Being a ref, I can step back, assess it, and think about the rules in my head and see if he is doing the right job or not."

"In reffing they tell you that 'You're human, and everyone's going to make mistakes. As long as you learn from that'."

"Bad refs come from stubbornly believing that the ref cannot make a mistake, creating bad habits for themselves.  They let stuff slide, they don't take care of their players, and it spirals out of control."

"Respect stems from the players, to the coaches to the refs, the fans the parents.  It's everyone.  If you don't have respect from the base, it can't stem up."

"No one wants to be in that hot seat, but everyone wants to criticize the people that are.  That again stems from a lack of respect and we do have quite a bit of that in our town, at times.  But people are still learning, it takes time."

"I find that my mental aspect of the game has definitely improved from the last couple of years coaching and reffing it's helped me mature my game a lot. Coaching definitely teaches you patience."  

"I'm fortunate enough that in practice I have two great coaches that help me, a lot of veteran guys that have played in this league and higher levels of hockey.  If they see something that will help your game, they'll come up to you and they'll tell you.  They're not going to put you down."

Back to beginner

"It was nice, these last couple years of midget. Every year that you're a second year or you're the veteran, and you have to take that responsibility."

"It's nice, in a sense, coming back to the bottom.  I love being able to help people but I love to learn, too.  I love different input from people, it makes your game so much better."

The friendly Pincher Creek rink

"I like walking into the rink, it's always seeing friendly faces.  Be nice to everyone."

"It's such and accepting atmosphere  a friendly environment.  It makes it easier, not only when you're older, but when you're younger.  You're always concerned about acceptance and trying to gain peoples approval."

"It's nice having people who can speak highly of you, so if you ever have a confrontation it's nice to know that you have people behind you that are willing to support you.  All the guys on the team are great guys that have done so much for this community.  It's no surprise why we've had so much support so far."

"As long as you can work with other people, respect other people and are able to learn, those three main things can build a pretty solid foundation for the rest of your life."

Do you play, coach, or have some other affiliation with the Ranchland Hockey League?  If so, we'd love to hear from you about your experiences.  Contact us at pinchercreekvoice@gmail.com.