Left to right, Justen Close, Damon McKenzie and Kyle Bosch of the Iron Horse Kindersley Klippers play for their hometown junior team and each of the local products is making an impact this season.
Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
Three local products are having success with the Iron Horse Kindersley Klippers and they are playing important roles on one of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s top teams.
Kyle Bosch, Justen Close and Damon McKenzie all say they are enjoying the opportunity to play for their hometown junior hockey team. Bosch is leading the team in points while Close is one of the league’s top goalies and McKenzie is having a solid rookie campaign.
The three players recently came together to discuss aspects of the team, their seasons and what it is like to play junior hockey in their hometown. The Klippers are in second place in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League standings, so things have gone well for the local products and their teammates.
[emember_protected for=”2″ custom_msg=’For more on this story, please see this week’s print edition of The Clarion.’]
Two years separate the players in age, so Close is the oldest, Bosch is a year younger than Close and McKenzie is a year younger than Bosch. Close played every other season with Bosch growing up and Bosch played every other year with McKenzie, so they know each other well. Close played midget hockey in Tisdale while Bosch played his midget in Saskatoon and McKenzie played midget in North Battleford.
Close, who shared the league’s top goalie honour last season, is in his final season of junior hockey and it is his third full season with the Klippers. He boasts a 2.03 goals against average and .931 save percentage with two shutouts in his 28 games this season. He has the fewest regulation losses (7) of all goalies with 25 or more games, and he said his focus has been to continue to develop as a player.
“I was trying to build off what I did last year,” he said, recognizing that he believes last season went well for the organization. “This year I was looking to do the same things, and not change too much – just focus on getting better every day and enjoying it.”
Close said he does not have a specific number of wins in mind as far as his personal goals, and his focus is on being the best teammate and leader possible. He noted that his everyday goal is to help give the team a chance to win every night, and that goal has not changed since he started playing for the Klippers
The local players agree there has been better home crowds on average this season than in recent seasons, and it is nice to see. While they are going to play the same way regardless of game attendance, Close said it is nice to see more fans in the stands.
Bosch is in his third full season with the Klippers, but he was still eligible to play midget hockey in his rookie season and he is eligible to play junior again next season. Bosch is leading the team in goals (14), assists (20) and points (34) this season, so he is having a stellar year.
He admitted that he has grown a lot as a player since last season and with it being his third year with the Klippers, he said he felt as though he had to step up and play a bigger role on the team. He said all aspects of his game have come together this season, and he hopes to keep it up to lead the team in scoring for the rest of 2018-19 campaign.
Bosch said he has matured as a player and it has made a difference, but he, Close and McKenzie all worked hard in the offseason with assistant coach Larry Wintoneak. He said he is more comfortable after the experience he gained in his first two seasons in junior.
He said his goal for the rest of the season is to continue to be a go-to guy for the team, and to do what ever it takes to help keep the team on top. Bosch said he has to “continue to play what ever role I’m told and make the most of it.”
McKenzie only played one game of junior at the end of the 2017-18 season, but he is enjoying a solid rookie year. He is tied for 13th in points on the team with 12 points (7G, 5A) and his seven goals is good enough for seventh most on the team. He said it has been a good season for him, and he has noticed the difference from midget.
“It’s faster and everyone is stronger, so you don’t have as much time with the puck,” he said of the difference from midget to junior, recognizing that he is learning to thing faster, move the puck quicker and use his teammates more.
He said as a competitive person, he would like to play every game and he knows it is not likely to happen as a rookie. McKenzie has played in 33 of the team’s 40 games and he said his goal is to capitalize on his time in the line up and make the most of his opportunities.
The three players all say they enjoy playing for first-year coach Clayton Jardine, and Bosch and Close say it is a change from the team’s previous coach Geoff Grimwood. They admit the team has come a long way in the past three seasons, and the goal for this season is to win a championship.
Bosch said the players in the dressing room have built a stronger bond, and the team has improved each season since his first year. The team improved from his first season to the next season, but the improvement has been huge this season, he said.
“We’ve built on a lot of things, and it’s not just me and Kyle,” Close added, recognizing that the team has a lot of returning players from last season. “Once you get comfortable with everybody and you learn how to work together and play together, you can build something through that.”
[/emember_protected]
