Nearly 1,900 participants signed up to race in one of the events, which included a five-kilometre run/walk, 10-km run/walk, duathlon, half-marathon and kids triathlon, held over two days of June 12-13. Some competitors travelled in from as far away as England and Germany.

“I think it’s great,” commented Denis Boyer, who journeyed to Footstock from Drummondville, Quebec, moments after completing his first-ever half-marathon.

“It’s really interesting to see so many people getting involved and getting fit.”

Boyer was talked into taking part by some of his Calgary colleagues.

He said he was happy with his time of roughly two hours, 30 minutes, especially given the difficulty of the countryside course.

“If it had been a bit more flat it would have been easier,” he said.

“Those hills were tough, really tough.”

And while Boyer and others travelled in from afar, Footstock director Ann Locke-Pope said the race weekend is a community event at its core.

Runners get started on the 10km race June 12 at Footstock. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

“The board members are all from Cochrane, 70 per cent of the participants are local, most of the volunteers are from Cochrane,” said Locke-Pope, who served in her third year as director.

One of the local standouts over the course of the weekend was St. Timothy School student Thomas DeBiasio, 17, who placed third overall out of more than 140 male competitors in the 10-kilometre run/walk.

“It felt really good,” said DeBiasio, who officially posted a time 38:56, roughly three minutes off the winner.

“I just started running in Grade 8 and I really enjoyed it.”

DeBiasio also thanked his coach, Frank Emshey, and family members for their support during the race.

The St. Timothy student was one of 420 competitors overall to take part in the sold-out 10-kilometre run/walk, as organizers were forced to cap the number of participants in each event this year due to ever-increasing demand.

The Kids Triathlon also sold out in just 28 hours.

“I think the reputation has grown for a well-organized event,” Locke-Pope said.

“I think for people who run road races all the time it’s something different . . . for whatever reason, the sun always shines on Footstock.”

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3. From dreams to destiny

Members of the Canadian Pacific Police Service, assisted by Cochrane RCMP and the Calgary Police Service, executed a search warrant June 11 on the residence of Chris Ball, 19.

A computer, camera and electronic storage devices were seized and Ball was summoned to appear in Cochrane Provincial Court July 8 on a mischief charge.

“When they came in, I was still in bed, still in my boxers,” recalls Ball, a few days after the search. “You can imagine how awkward that is. My mom was in tears as six officers barge into our house . . . I was shocked.”
Canadian Pacific officials allege Ball jumped from the Highway 22 overpass onto a moving freight train May 17.

At the time, the train stopped and Cochrane RCMP apprehended Ball and fined him $300 for petty trespassing.

“They chose not to charge me,” Ball said of the local law enforcement. “Then, three weeks later, after I have gotten all this news coverage, (Canadian Pacific) comes back and says we have got to charge him now.

“They’re saying he was on the news and we have got to make an example of him. To me that’s unfair.”

Mike LoVecchio. spokesperson for Canadian Pacific, said a subsequent investigation uncovered a YouTube video of the incident, which led to the charges.

“Trespassing is a problem across our network,” LoVecchio said. “It is simply risky behaviour for which there is no need.”

LoVecchio also stressed Canadian Pacific is solely focused on the train jumping incident.

Ball, meanwhile, dreams of working in the entertainment industry and plans to attend the motion picture arts program at Red Deer College in the fall.

He said he appreciates both the positive and negative feedback his risky actions have received.

“For all the negative, I have also had a great deal of support” Ball said.

“For all the negative, I have also had a great deal of support,” Ball said, adding that an anonymous fan started a Facebook group in his honour.

Ball is scheduled to make his first court appearance July 8.

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Surfing on the roof of a speeding car, jumping off a bridge onto a moving train and scaling the sides of buildings with ease — Cochrane teenager Chris Ball has been filmed doing all this and much more.

Recently, Ball’s on-screen antics have gained national media attention; however, not everyone is impressed with the 19-year-old who is aiming for a career in the entertainment industry.
“It’s fulfilling to me to complete these stunts,”explained Ball the day after a video of him car-surfing appeared on a national news broadcast.

“Having said that, I don’t want to be a stunt guy because I love being on camera, I just love movies in general to be honest.”

Ball added that he has been taken aback by the amount of attention — both positive and negative — surrounding his car-surfing stunt, which has been viewed roughly 10,000 times on YouTube since being posted earlier this year.

Cochrane teen Chris Ball, seen hanging upside down from a bridge, has received national media attention after a video of him surfing on the roof of a moving car appeared on video sharing website YouTube. Photo courtesy of Chris Ball

The former Cochrane High graduate stated that the video “was for fun,” and was shot roughly two years ago.

“I thought about taking it down but I don’t think I’m going to because what kind of person would I be if I only put up videos for a positive response?” said Ball, who performs his acts under the on-screen moniker Chris Bawl.

Now it seems Ball’s car-surfing video and a number of others available online have caught the attention of local law enforcement.

Cochrane RCMP is currently looking into the possibility of laying charges, said Const. Sean Lentowicz.

“We have got to figure out where the videos are coming from and how they were made and so on,” he said. “I believe a lot of people, including the media and the general public, believe it’s very irresponsible. It not only gets himself in trouble but it also has younger kids wanting to be like Chris Ball. It’s setting a bad example all-around.”

Lentowicz added that Ball could face charges ranging from Traffic Safety Act violations to trespassing to civil suits.

The Calgary Police Service has also launched an investigation of their own.

Ball, meanwhile, refused to give exact locations for where his stunts are filmed, noting that they have taken place “all over the area.”

The daredevil also said he isn’t fazed by talk of criminal charges.

“The way I see it is that if you put videos on YouTube for everyone to see, you have to be held accountable for that,” Ball said. “What I want people to realize is that you can’t say ‘What if this, what if that?’ because nothing’s happened. I’m still here and nobody’s been injured.”

Ball said he has received formal stunt  training in the past and that he is the only one in danger in the majority of his videos.

“The way I see it is this is just my start,” said Ball, who plans to attend the motion picture arts program at Red Deer College in the fall.

John Scott, a stunt co-ordinator with 40 years of experience, said Ball’s daredevil acts may be doing more harm than good to his career aspirations.

“A lot of stunt co-ordinators probably wouldn’t touch him because they would figure he’s unsafe and doesn’t take direction properly,” said Scott, who has worked on numerous feature films, including X-Men 2 and Van Helsing, and currently works as a wrangler on the Alberta-based television show Heartland.

“On a set, you spend a lot of time making a stunt safe and the law of averages says this kid is going to get hurt.”

Ball said he incorporates a great deal of camera trickery into his videos to make stunts appear more dangerous than they really are.

He added that he is fully aware of the risks and that his mother, whom he lives with, and close friends are very supportive of his actions.

“I know my limits,” he said. “I am pretty intuitive when it comes to knowing what I am capable of . . . if there’s doubt I will not attempt it.”

Related stories:

1. Stuntman charged for train jumping
2. Local hoops star nets CIS medal for Saskatchewan

Looking at this year’s college draft, most Canadian Football League analysts expected Cochrane offensive lineman John Bender to be selected in the first round.

After all, the former Cochrane High Cobras standout was ranked No. 2 overall last month among all prospects by the CFL’s Amateur Scouting Bureau.

However, in the weeks leading up to the draft , Bender made it very clear that he will be returning to the University of Nevada Wolf Pack for his senior year in the fall and after that plans on taking a run at the National Football League.

Draft day came May 2, and Bender’s name was absent from the first round selections. Then, the second round passed and still no word.

Former Cochrane Cobras offensive lineman John Bender grew up idolizing the Calgary Stampeders and could now play for them one day after being drafted by the team May 2. Photo courtesy University of Nevada

Naturally, the hulking 6’8, 147-kilogram gridiron star became a little impatient while watching the online draft tracker and went for breakfast. It was while dining that Bender received a text message from a friend saying the long wait had paid off — the Calgary Stampeders had drafted him in the third round.

“I didn’t think I would fall all the way to the third round but that’s fine, it all worked out for the best,” said Bender, who was officially selected 17th overall, during a phone interview.

“I’m with the Stampeders and could maybe play in front of my family and friends someday.”

Bender grew up rooting for the Stampeders and said it was an honour to be selected by the organization.

The 23-year-old noted that his unwillingness to commit to the CFL was likely what sent him down the draft board and funny enough cost him a national television interview with TSN.

“They were going to talk to me over the phone when I got drafted but they only covered the first two rounds live,” Bender said laughing.

Nevertheless, Bender had no hard feelings about his draft day slide.

“I see it more as a sign of respect,” he said.

“(Teams) are not sure if they are going to see me next year. I am going to keep working hard in the off-season and hopefully have a good year with the Wolf Pack and then hopefully the NFL comes calling.”

Bender has been rumoured to be a late-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft by numerous scouting websites. This past season at Nevada, Bender and his fellow offensive linemen helped pave the road for the No. 1 rushing attack in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

After selecting Bender, the Stampeders also chose two other offensive lineman in hopes of filling a void left by the recent retirement of veteran tackle Jeff Pilon. Calgary Stamps head coach John Hufnagel hinted that Bender could one day find himself in Pilon’s spot on the depth chart.

“John Bender’s a very athletic offensive lineman,” Hufnagel said in an audio interview released by the team. “He played guard. I look to see him come in and compete at an offensive tackle position.”

If Bender does join the Stamps, he would be reunited with fellow Cochranites Rob Cote, who plays at fullback, and receiver Blaine Kruger. Bender played with Cote in high school and the two later joined Kruger on the Victoria Rebels of the British Columbia Football Conference.

“Obviously they’re great players and it would be good to play with them again,” Bender said of his fellow Cochrane products.

And although his senior season is still months away, Bender is already looking forward to rejoining the Wolf Pack, who officially kick off their 2010 NCAA campaign Sept. 2 against Eastern Washington.

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3. Raymond’s star shines bright with homecoming hat trick

“I don’t really cry normally but I just started right there on the court with about a minute left,” recalled the 22-year-old hoops star, who was playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. “It was the best result I have had in my five years.”
Wilson’s personal achievement aside, the Huskies’ bronze was the first-ever medal in women’s basketball for the school.

“We were ranked high all year,” Wilson explained. “We were a quick team and were very deep and able to play a variety of players. When someone didn’t step up someone else would.”

Originally a volleyball player, Wilson became attracted to basketball because of its physical nature. She finally decided to give the sport a shot in high school, joining the Cochrane High Cobras.

Wilson’s leadership and poise on the court would quickly draw the attention of coaching staff at Calgary’s Mount Royal College (now University) and she was recruited to play Alberta Colleges Athletic Association ball after graduation.

After two years with the Mount Royal Cougars, Wilson got a shot at Canada’s top post-secondary league with the Huskies.

“All of the girls were bigger, it’s crazy,” Wilson said of the transition to the university ranks. “They’re bigger, better and stronger.”

Wilson hit the gym constantly and built up 20 pounds of muscle over her three seasons with the Huskies.

“I had to learn to shoot a lot better and just be a bigger and better player.”

All of the Cochranite’s hard work would pay off, as Wilson developed into a consistent weapon for the Huskies, averaging nearly six points and four rebounds per game in her final season.

Now, the young Cochrane athlete has sights on earning a professional contract with a European league. If that doesn’t work out, she plans to fall back on her sociology degree and hopefully work as a police officer in Calgary or Saskatoon.

“I have played on a team for four years that I travel to Europe with,” Wilson said. “We are planning to go again (to) compete against club teams and national teams. From there, I will probably e-mail coaches, hire an agent and try to get my name out there.”

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The smile smeared across Dione Wearmouth’s face gave it all away.

With two podium finishes at Skate Canada’s Alberta-NWT/Nunavut STARSkate Championships — Wearmouth’s biggest competition of the year — the 10-year-old Cochranite could barely contain her excitement.“It was really good for me,” exclaimed the young skater, who officially took silver in the pre-introductory interpretive category and bronze in the preliminary 10-and-under free skate competition. “It was a pretty big competition and I was skating against a lot of other girls so I am really happy with my result.”

Wearmouth admitted that her performance in the preliminary free skate final didn’t go quite as well as the day before when she participated in the runoff qualification round.

“I fell during a big jump and I didn’t think my spins were quite as good today,” she said.
“I just had to keep going because I realize I have to make up for that element if I fall.”

Wearmouth’s poise on the ice is what left her mother, Jana, beaming with pride.

“I just tell her to relax and pretend everybody’s in their underwear,” Jana said, “and she does that, she stays calm and does it like she has hundreds of times.”

In the free skate runoff, fellow Cochrane Skating Club member Sydney Perron bested Wearmouth and went on to finish fifth in the finals. Wearmouth said there is a fair amount of friendly competition between the two training partners and it helps make them better skaters.

“We kind of have that tension between us,” Wearmouth said. “She skates pretty good and she tried really hard.”
Besides Wearmouth and Perron, Cochrane Skating Club had a number of other top-10 showings at the STARSkate championships, held March 4-7 in Airdrie.

Beth Alison captured gold in the adult gold free skate competition, Alyssa Soloski placed fourth in the junior bronze free skate and ninth in the introductory interpretive group. Jase Ritter — the lone male Cochrane skater at the competition — was also fourth in the pre-preliminary free skate, Molly Tingler placed sixth in the silver interpretive competition and Siera Dube was seventh in the preliminary 11 and over free skate.

Cochrane Skating Club coach Kathy Sutherland said she was impressed with the determination shown by all of her young skaters.

“It’s really good to see them doing really well,” Sutherland said. “They’re going out there and really fighting for their skate.”

The Cochrane Skating Club will now shift focus to get ready for its annual carnival March 20 at the Cochrane Arena. This year’s theme will be High School Musical with shows at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.

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Local hard courts will be busy in the weeks ahead as high school basketball teams battle it out for a coveted spot in the provincial finals.

And for the Cochrane High Cobras senior boys team to be successful they will need serious input from two team members living under the same roof.

Head coach Jamie McLellan and his son Jared, a senior guard on the team, will be looked upon to lead a spirited Cobras team that has eyes on making a run all the way to the big prize.

“The goal is to win provincials,” Jamie said bluntly. “I think when we started the season off and I told the parents that they said ‘Yeah sure, whatever,’ but the kids have really started to believe in themselves.”

Cochrane High Cobras head coach Jamie McLellan, left, and his son Jared believe the Cobras have what it takes to contend for senior boys 3A provincial title. Photo by Patrick Price.

Basketball, and winning for that matter, have been in the McLellan blood for a long time. Jamie led Winston Churchill High School to the 4A provincial title in Grade 12 and starred as a shooting guard at the University of Lethbridge for five years. He also coached Jared’s team in Grade 9 at Calgary’s Montgomery Junior High School as the team ran all the way to the city championship.

Jared, meanwhile, is no slouch in his own right. He played on the Cobras football team, first as a receiver and then as a quarterback this season before being sidelined by multiple injuries. As well, during this year’s basketball campaign, Jared has consistently found himself atop the Cobras scoresheet.

“He’s a really good shooter,” Jamie said of his son. “Football has been good for a lot of these kids because it’s taught them to be tough and aggressive. Jared certainly has benefited from that, he’s become more aggressive. It’s a more physical game than it was 10 years ago. The refs let the kids play now.”

Jared said that if he had to choose between football and basketball he has always felt more at home on the court.

“I’ve grown up with it, played it (basketball) my whole life,” Jared said. “I am better at it too.”

Jared noted that he likes having his father as his coach because, “He pushes me more than other kids because he expects more and that helps me to become a better player.”

Having said that, Jared said he and Jamie make sure to keep their work on the court separate from their family life.

“He makes sure that everyone knows I am just another player on the team and we make sure that he is my coach on the basketball court, but when we leave there he becomes my dad again,” said Jared, who hopes to follow in Jamie’s footsteps by earning a spot on the U of L basketball roster next season.

But before any post-secondary aspirations can be realized, the father-son duo will first face a tough road to the 3A Provincial Championships in Medicine Hat March 18-20.

Jamie said that while the Rocky View basketball division is not as strong as last year — when Springbank and Chestermere finished one-two in the province — the south-central zone could be very tough, with the Cobras, Canmore and Springbank all contending. The south-central zone will be only granted two automatic berths to provincials, but teams can also qualify through one of two wild card spots.

Jamie, who is currently in his second season at the helm of the Cobras, said his team’s best asset lies in their depth.
“You look at the games we have won and invariably at least eight, nine kids are on the scoresheet and most games it’s more like 10 or 11,” he said.

The McLellan duo and the rest of the Cobras senior boys team, ranked third in Rocky View behind Springbank and the 4A squad from Airdrie’s Bert Church High School, kick off post-season play against the Bow Valley Bobcats March 3 at 7:45 p.m. at Cochrane High.

The Cochrane High senior girls team will also face Bow Valley in the opening round, with that game going at Cochrane High at 6 p.m. on March 3.

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2. Thunder roll to first-ever championship
3. Stampeders tap Cochrane big man Bender

The signs of a gifted young hockey player are all there.

A team-first mentality, the ability to compete against more experienced players and a knack for putting the puck in the net. And the best part of all is that she’s just 14 years of age.

Yes, Cochrane’s Samantha Sutherland is a coaches’ dream, just ask her current bench boss Mikko Makela.

“She’s a very good player, very skilled, everything’s good,” said Makela, current hockey director and head coach at Warner Hockey School in southern Alberta where Sutherland debuted this season. “She’s a ninth grade player who plays like an eleventh grade player.”

After roughly 50 games with Sutherland under his direction, Makela — a Finnish professional hockey player who spent six seasons in the NHL between 1985 and 1990, has already declared her the most skilled 14-year-old female hockey player in Canada.

“That’s what I believe, there are maybe other people who think a little differently about some other players, but I’m not too far I don’t think,” he said.

Sutherland made the jump to the Warner Warriors midget team directly from peewee hockey in Cochrane. Competing with her team in the Junior Women’s Hockey League — featuring elite teams from all over North America — often forces the 5’2”, 122-pound forward to line up against players as much as five years older than her.

None of it seems to have slowed down her offensive production, however, as Sutherland sits third on Warner in scoring with 21 goals and 21 assists — an even split for a player who prides herself on her playmaking skills.

“I try to always work hard every shift and try to set up good scoring chances for my team,” Sutherland said. “I try to control the play as much as I can.”

Sutherland said her first year at Warner has been better than she ever imagined.

“Being away from my family took a bit of time to adjust to but everyone involved in the program here is so nice and has been so supportive to me, they are like my second family,” she said. “Also, adjusting to playing Midget AAA was a real challenge because the play is so fast and most of the players are quite a bit older than me.”

As well, the small-town atmosphere in Warner, which at a population of slightly more than 300 people makes Cochrane seem like a metropolis, has quickly grown on Sutherland.

“Everyone in the town knows us and says hi, it makes you feel special,” she explained. “If you come to a home game on Saturday night you will see a lot of Warner pride and fans who haven’t missed a home game in six years.”

Now, Sutherland will take a brief hiatus from Warner and head north to the Lakeland Region for the Alberta Winter Games Feb. 4-7. There, she will serve as captain on a Zone 2 girls hockey team featuring seven fellow Cochranites.

It will be the young forward’s second trip to the Games as she helped Zone 2 capture silver in 2008.
Zone 2 head coach Claude Vilgrain, a former NHLer in his own right who now coaches the Calgary Bantam AAA Outlaws, said choosing Sutherland as his captain was a no-brainer.

“She has the experience, the skill level, awareness and hockey sense that is above her age level,” Vilgrain said. “She is a very smart player and very driven player as well and that helps.”

Other Cochranites on the team are Hannah Olenyk, Emily Potts, Cylenna Alexander, Andie Boeckman, Channia Alexander as well as netminders Jade Walsh and Kirsten Chamberlin. Chamberlin, specifically, was a surprising selection for the team as she is just 11 years old — the minimum age required to participate in the Games.

“We just had no choice but to pick her, she did what she had to do,” Vilgrain said of Chamberlin, who stops pucks for the division-leading Cochrane Rockies Tier 1 Peewee girls team of the Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League.

As for projections on how his team will perform, Vilgrain said they will be competitive but face stiff competition from the Calgary players on the Zone 3 team — including his own daughter Cassandra — and the Red Deer team representing Zone 4.

“Chemistry is the key,” he said. “The teams have to come out of the gate pretty quick and the ones that are able to do this will be the most successful.”
Sutherland, meanwhile, is excited for the competition to get underway.

“I just try to lead by example and try to keep the team positive and focused on playing our best,” she said. “If you are out there working hard the whole team will work hard.”

And if she has it her way, Sutherland hopes that hard work will someday lead her to Division 1 college hockey and possibly a spot on Team Canada.

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Cochrane archer James Webster doesn’t need a mirror to correct the finer points of his pre-shot routine, his twin brother Mark does it for him.

The two 15-year-olds, who have been perfecting their skills with a bow every day for roughly seven years, are classified as mirror-image twins, meaning they are identical, but James is right-handed and Mark is a lefty. This setup works well in archery practice because the two face each other when they line up to fire.

“It’s about having fun. We don’t care who comes first as long as the other is second,” James said. “It’s like we have our own personal coaches who watch us while we watch them . . . I think if I didn’t have my big brother to help me I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Mark, who is one minute older, said that if he and James had it their way they would practice 12-15 hours a day or more.

Their infatuation with the sport began at a non-electric amusement park back home in England. Just eight years old at the time, both Mark and James spent most of the day firing traditional longbows at an on-site range.

“They must have stayed there for three hours. They didn’t go around the rest of the park,” recalls the twins’ father Tony Webster.

Tony signed the boys up for at a nearby club where coaches quickly determined that the two were naturals.

In September 2008, the Websters moved to Cochrane and Mark and James became members at the Cochrane Archery Centre. They practice twice a week in Calgary and daily in the basement of their house where Tony has setup a makeshift range.

“Back home the coaches had a lot longer to work with us and they taught us the basics,” Mark said. “Out here the coaches are really good, they have worked with the Koreans who are the world champions.”

Now, the twins’ seeming obsession with finding the bulls-eye has earned them tickets to the Alberta Winter Games, held Feb. 4-7 in Alberta’s Lakeland region, where they will compete in the ages 15-17 recurve bow division.

Scores earned by fellow archers from around the province are not made public so Mark said it will be very interesting to see how he stacks up to the competition.

“Consistency is the key,” Mark said. “You have to be like a robot and concentrate. If even one of your steps is off — your foot’s off, your grip is too high, where you rest the string to your chin, anything — it can throw you off.”

James added, “There’s just so many variables, there are so many things that can go wrong. That’s the fun of it, being able to perfect everything that could go wrong.”

While many archers have switched to a high-tech compound bow, James and Mark prefer the tradition recurve style because it requires more skill to perfect and is the only discipline contested at the Olympics.

“It’s a dark side because it’s ridiculously easy,” Mark said of the compound bow.

“There’s a magnified scope and you pull a trigger, you’re not shooting normally, it’s like a gun.”

Beyond the archery range, the Websters said they have enjoyed life in Cochrane a great deal; both Mark and James attend school at Cochrane High.

“We went to a few schools and they didn’t feel right but we went there and it was perfect,” James said of his school. “There’s no other place we want to be.”

The twins said they view the Alberta Games as a building block to bigger things in the future, as both have dreams of representing Canada in archery at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“We live in Canada and we want to shoot for Canada,” James said.

And, staying true to their brotherly bond, neither Mark nor James was willing to declare himself better than the other.

In Britain, James was club champion, but Mark was more consistent week-to week.

“It really depends on the week,” Mark said.

“There’s no real way to determine who is better,” James added.

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3. Local hoops star nets CIS medal for Saskatchewan

It was the greatest night of Mason Raymond’s young life, and the best part of all was that his family and friends were on hand to witness the whole thing.

The 24-year-old emerging NHL star, who grew up on a ranch just outside of Cochrane, scored three goals in succession in the first two periods Dec. 27 as his Vancouver Canucks thumped the host Calgary Flames 5-1 in front of a packed house at the Saddledome.

It was the first career hat trick for the speedy left-winger and earned him the game’s first star recognition.

“Obviously it was great,” said a reserved Raymond in the locker room after the game. “I grew up watching the Flames and was a big fan . . . this area has been good to me over the years.

“Obviously the Calgary-area is very passionate about their hockey and Cochrane was a great place for me to grow up. Some good players have come out of there, I still consider it home and a place I come back to all the time and enjoy.”

Vancouver forward Mason Raymond celebrates his third goal of the night as the Cochrane hockey product tallied his first-ever hat trick in a 5-1 win against Calgary Flames Dec. 27. Raymond was named first star in the effort and now has a career-high 29 points (17 goals, 12 assists) for Vancouver this season. Photos by Jeremy Nolais.

More photos from the game: Photo Gallery

For Raymond’s father, Terry, who watched his son play the game of his life from the Saddledome stands along with wife Carol, daughter Nadine, and numerous other family and friends, it was an emotion-filled night that he will never forget.
“Well I didn’t cry,” Terry said, chuckling. “I always believed in him. You just never know how big the heart in the dog is.”

Terry, who still lives in the Cochrane area, has been Mason’s biggest source of encouragement over the years, offering him guidance and building outdoor rinks for his son to practice on as a youngster.

The proud father recalls watching with great excitement as his son erupted on the Alberta hockey scene with the Camrose Kodiaks in 2005, scoring a league-high 41 goals and adding an identical number of assists in his second season with the team to lead them to the Alberta Junior Hockey League championship.

Later on that year, the Canucks drafted Mason in the second round, 51st overall.

It was at this point that the Cochrane farm boy’s dreams of playing in the NHL became a viable reality.

“I think you always believe you can make it,” Mason said. “You get your chances and opportunities, but when I got drafted that was really the turning point.”

After successful stints with the NCAA’s University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, Raymond finally earned his NHL stripes in the Canucks season-opener against the San Jose Sharks in October 2007, picking up an assist in the process on a goal by Brendan Morrison.

But the battle wasn’t over for Mason, as he suffered a knee injury during a game in March 2008 that sidelined him for the rest of the season.

Finally, after being scratched from the lineup numerous times during the regular season, Mason got his shot in last year’s playoffs when fellow Vancouver forward Pavol Demitra went down with a knee injury in the second round against the Chicago Blackhawks. Paired with Canucks stars Mats Sundin and Ryan Kesler, Mason took full advantage of his opportunity, scoring two goals and adding an assist before the Canucks fell to the ‘Hawks in six games.

It’s been a long road indeed, but looking back Mason doesn’t seem to have many regrets.

“It’s all been stepping stones to where I’m at now,” he said bluntly.

Where he’s at now is a consistent second-line forward for the Canucks who has appeared in every game for the team this season and already logged a career-high 29 points (17 goals,12 assists) with a lot of season still left.

Terry says his son has gained a new level of confidence this season and he foresees even greater things from him in the years ahead.

“He hasn’t exceeded my expectations, I expect a lot more from him yet,” Terry said. “He has got a long ways to go yet with his development in terms of where he wants to be.”

Mason’s father isn’t the only one who has taken notice of the Cochranite’s drastic improvement, just ask Canucks superstar Daniel Sedin.

“He’s such a skilled player, and a smart player, and he’s figured it out himself,” Sedin said. “We have been there too, myself and Henrik (his twin brother and fellow Canucks forward), sometimes you have just got to relax, get back to the basics and have fun.

“Mason’s been working really hard these past few years and now he is getting some really nice goals and some points too. He’s really deserving of his success.”

Success like his hat trick Dec. 27. In the opening period, Mason got behind the Calgary defence and chipped a shot from Mikael Samuelsson past Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. On the same shift, Mason flipped a puck in from about centre ice that fell onto Kiprusoff’s left arm and then trickled into the net.

In the second period, Vancouver defenceman Alexander Edler fed a beautiful, cross-ice pass to Mason, who was on the doorstep to bury it home and complete the hat trick. The Canucks bench exploded with excitement and the young forward was mauled by his linemates.

“It was really special to do it tonight, in front of friends and family,” Mason said.

Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said the team has been extremely pleased with the input from Mason, who now ranks third on the team in overall points.

“Mason’s been real good at home and this was a real good road game for him,” Vigneault said. “A lot of our group has talked about playing better on the road . . . we made some mistakes, but our goaltending was really good and shut the door.”

The Canucks now move on to face the Blues in St. Louis on New Year’s Eve.

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