Cairns headed back to Manitoba

Citizen file photo

Calvin Cairns was traded from the Estevan Bruins of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League to the Neepawa Natives of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League Nov. 4.

Defenceman Calvin Cairns, 18, from Snow Lake, was traded Nov. 4 from the Estevan Bruins of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League to the Neepawa Natives of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League along with 20-year-old forward Jordan Lane and 19-year-old defenceman Mike Dopko in exchange for forwards Matt Luongo, 18, and Anthony Collins, 20, and 19-year-old defenceman Dylan Towns.

Cairns played for the Norman Northstars in the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey league in the 2008-2009 season, when he won the team's the Barry Patterson Award for the most popular player and was the co-winner of the Clifford Duchesne Hardest Worker Award. He was one of two players from the Northstars named to the league's East Division all-star roster that year.

Bryant Perrier, head coach and general manager of the Natives, said Neepawa had been tracking Cairns and asking Estevan about trading him since the season started, in part because he can play either as a puckhandling defenceman or an aggressive forward and is the hard-nosed and gritty presence that the team was looking for.

"He is a heck of a competitor," said Perrier. "Our fans will love him because he is pure guts and blue collar in his mentality on the ice. He will be a fan favourite. His coach in Estevan loved him but we insisted he be part of the deal. The guys coming in give us size, toughness, experience and grit and we get younger with Cairns able to be here for another two-and-a-half years."

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