Dragons Breathing Fire in the South
November 24, 2008
As the week begins the Drumheller Dragons find themselves in the middle of a closely bunched group of five teams in the South Division of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. They had started slowly: slower than expected after last spring’s playoff success. Most recently, they’d posted just three wins in ten games. As usual, critics start looking at the goaltender.
“I’m the first to admit I need to be better,” said Garrett Sheehan, who shares the goaltending duties with Braden Gamble. “I’ve played 21 of the first 27 games and my numbers aren’t great. The only way they’re going to get better is if I keep working hard, which is what I intend to do.”
“We’ve had our troubles with the North Division so far this season,” says Sheehan. We went up and lost in Bonnyville and in Lloydminster on a recent road trip and those results leave us below .500 against the North. But we’ve beaten every team in the South at least once this season. Perhaps it’s because we play them more often and we know what to expect. And those division wins are really important because we know the South is a wide open race this season and it’s going to be a real scramble to win it.”
Growing up in the rural community of Cremona, Sheehan started playing goal at an early age. He had to “want” to compete because after atom hockey he was on the road for practices and games playing for higher level teams that were out of his area. First it was peewee hockey with the Bow Valley Timberwolves which were based out of Cochrane. Then it was two years of midget hockey for the Airdrie Lightning, a team which actually played out of Carstairs. That was followed by a season of AAA Midget hockey with the UFA Bisons, based out of Strathmore.
“That was a road trip,” Sheehan recalls with a smile. “An hour and fifteen minutes each way, twice a week for practices, plus games. Fortunately, there were a couple of other players who lived nearby so we could car-pool. But I had to pay for the gas when it was my turn to drive.”
Last season was something of a dream season for the Dragons. They got on a roll at playoff time and advanced to the League semi-final before falling to eventual Enerflex Cup champion Camrose in five games. It was the best a Dragons team had ever done in the AJHL. And it raised the level of expectations that a young team which was slated to return many of its players, could take the next step.
“We’ve got a really good group of second year players including myself,” Sheehan told me. “Pat Bartoshyk, Colin Bergman, Wade Epp and myself need to step up and take a leadership role. If we pull together we can make a good run at this Division. We want to do better than third place which is where we finished the regular schedule last season. I know for myself the challenge is to play well game after game after game. We have a team that can score. We just need to be better in our own end and that starts with me.”
Away from the Dragons, Sheehan is an interesting young man. He grew up on a farm where there were horses to ride and cattle to feed. His father got out of the beef business after the BSE outbreak five years ago. He’s done very well in school. He has a 1,770 SAT score and a number of NCAA schools are keeping an eye on his progress. And perhaps, most interestingly, he’s a pretty good artist.
“My grandmother taught me to draw,” he told me. “I used to draw on the bus on road trips. But with this team, between the video games and movies, I don’t do much drawing on road trips anymore.”
Sheehan plays a challenging position in a competitive league. Since peewee, he has made the trek into Calgary to work with Tyler Love, Eli Wilson and Todd Lauren at their World Pro Goaltending School.
“They’re great at teaching technique,” Sheehan told me. A lot of goalies work out with them. They’ve brought in Francois Allaire who developed Jean-Sebastian Giguere, to help them keep current on goaltending philosophy and technique. I really think it’s helped my game a lot to be able to work with them.”
He feels confident he has the tools to be a solid goaltender in the AJHL. He is prepared to work hard at his craft. He has some goals to play for: a playoff run with his team and the possibility of an NCAA scholarship. And he has enough pride in himself that being less than the best he can be is not acceptable. Now it just has to come together on the ice. The good folks of Drumheller are hoping all of that will happen soon.
