Lare Pahtayken’s unconventional path to the Tisdale Trojans
May 1 was “signing day” for many teams in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL) to reveal their player commitments for the 2020-21 season.
The Tisdale Trojans announced most of their new signings that day, but they had one more commitment to unveil on May 13.
Lare Pahtayken, a 2003-born defenceman from Onion Lake, will play his first season of Midget AAA hockey with the Trojans – unless he earns a spot with a team in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) or Western Hockey League (WHL) – after taking an unconventional path.
“I played a couple of games with the Battlefords Barons Bantam AA team,” Pahtayken told northeastNOW. “I didn’t really fit in as well, so I came home and played for a year. My next year, I tried out for Bantam AAA in Lloydminster and didn’t cut it… I ended up playing in Hillmond, which was pretty good. I had a lot of improvement that year.”