You ’ ve got to think the game well as much as play it , if you can think the game well , playing it will make success come just that much easier
By Les Lazaruk Sports Director , Saskatoon Media Group / Saskatoon Blades ’ play-by-play Photos by Steve Hiscock / Saskatoon Blades
SASKATOON , SK . -- A few decades ago , one of Manitoba ’ s best male curlers was skipping a team in the provincial men ’ s championship . In between draws , he sidled up to a reporter and said , “ Don ’ t call me from Baldur , call me from Belmont .” For his first season-and-a-half with the Saskatoon Blades , Logan Christensen had a similar wish . “( My ) hometown is Lundar , Manitoba ,” said the 18-year-old , before adding , “ But , when I was drafted by the Blades ( in the spring of 2014 ), I was living in Morden , Manitoba . So , they just had Morden as my hometown for the last year . I thought I had it changed at the end of last year , but I didn ’ t so it still says Morden .” The confusion regarding Christensen ’ s hometown has a back story , of course . “ Well , Lundar is a pretty small town ( population 1,351 according to the 2011 census ),” he said . “ It ’ s a nice town , but the hockey isn ’ t as high of a level as I wanted to play then so my mom ( Misty ) and step-dad ( Mark Desjarlais ) moved to Morden ( population 7,812 in 2011 ) and I played Bantam AAA and Midget AAA ( with the Pembina Valley Hawks ), which was really good and it helped me get here . “ A year or two before I played Midget , the Hawks had seven players drafted to the WHL , so I thought it was pretty good place to be .” The move worked out for Christensen . Saskatoon chose him with the 30th overall pick ( in the second round ) of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft and he was one of five 16-year-olds to crack the Blades ’ roster for the 2015-16 season . He has cultivated a reputation as being a “ smart ” player on the ice . Besides taking a regular shift , Saskatoon head coach Dean Brockman utilizes Christensen on the penalty kill , as a point m a n on the Blades ’
second power play unit as well as tapping him on the shoulder to take defensive zone face-offs at key moments of games . That ’ s high praise for a young sophomore in the WHL , especially when one considers that he was an offensive producer for Pembina Valley as a Bantam ( 36 goals and 71 points in 51 games ) and as a Midget ( 18 goals and 39 points in 42 games ) for the 2014-15 Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League-champion Hawks .
You ’ ve got to think the game well as much as play it , if you can think the game well , playing it will make success come just that much easier
“ I don ’ t think it has changed a whole lot ,” said Christensen , when asked if his style of play had been altered from Bantam and Midget to the Major Junior ranks . “ I think I ’ m a little more defensive now that I ’ m here . But , other than that , I ’ ve stayed pretty on par with my game .” If there is one thing about Christensen that sets him apart from many other players , it ’ s his cerebral approach to the game . Not many athletes give the game quite as much thought . “ You ’ ve got to think the game well as much as play it ,” explained Christensen with regards to his “ smart ” player rep . “ If you can think
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