With the passing of part-owner Andre Payette and manager of Hockey, the Tumbler Ridge Steel Kings future seemed to be in doubt.
But no more. Lauren Barr—who owns the Slave Lake Icedogs has stepped in and taken over ownership of both the Tumbler Ridge Steel Kings and the Mackenzie Mountaineers.
Barr, who had come on as part owner of the Steel Kings before Andre Payette passed away (see cover) is now the sole owner of the these two teams.
And, while her interests might be divided, for now, she is focusing on getting the Tumbler Ridge team up and running.
Barr says she is moving to town and is spending her time getting the team in shape for the season opener which is planned for the October 21 weekend.
“My values are always to do the right thing,” says Barr. “I believe in diligence in our work, I want to invest in the community, adapt, improvise and overcome. And I use that system of core values as a filter when I make decisions. And as of late, you know, there’s been a lot of adapting, improvising and overcoming which is great, because I have a lot of experience with that.”
Barr began her career with the league with the Cold Lake Wings, a GMHL team that folded in 2019. “I had a knack for it, kind of like Brenda (Nystoruk), our gameday manager here. I was just good at it. I liked the kids. I don’t have children of my own, so I really enjoy investing in the youth. And I happen to be really good at player acquisition, so it just kind of worked.”
She says she isn’t worried about lining up players for the season opening weekend, now just two weeks away. “Maybe for a normal person, October 21 would be a stretch, but certainly not for me, because of my player recruiting skills. The delay of the season was a little bit due to Andre, but at the same time, we needed to recruit more players. And so the league and I agreed that we should have a little bit of a delay. The dumbest thing we could possibly do would be to start early to try and avoid any negative feedback from the public and not be a success. I want to do well and start strong, so I’m very pleased with the delay. It’ll give me enough time to ice a really good team.”
So far, the team has only announced two players, but that’s only what has been made public. “Yesterday I signed 11 players,” says Barr. “And my intention today is to finish off our roster. I’ve been talking to kids and figuring out who I’m going to sign. I have lots of different players coming from Iqaluit, the Northwest Territories, from Saskatchewan. I just made a trade for a player from Slave Lake. Alberta, so there’ll be players from all over the country.”
She says the biggest issue won’t be the players, but where to keep them. “My next thing to attack is going to be billeting,” says Barr. “ Right now, we only have one Billet home, which is not ideal. But what are our core values? We improvise. So I’m going to rent some five bedroom houses, get some staff to be in charge of the houses. No matter what it takes, we’re going to be successful. So it’s just a question of, how are we gonna get there?”
For now at least, Barr will be living here in Tumbler Ridge. “Slave Lake is very stable, so I don’t really need to be there. And I sent the coach that I had—Brian Verbeek—to Mackenzie to take over that team. That means we need a new coach for Tumbler. And I’m just going to be here.
There’s still a ways to go, but, says Barr, things are falling into place. “Brenda is amazing. I’m very pleased to announce that she’s our game day manager. She knows a lot of people in town. I’m sure she’ll have no problem getting volunteers. We have some wonderful sponsors that we’re really fortunate to forge relationships with. So we’re very pleased about that. So really, it’s just going to be making sure the kids get here, making sure they’re in a safe environment. And that’s really it. Everything is just going to flow. I’m very confident in our success, and not at all concerned.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
