While many Thompson youth have already put away their skates now that the regular minor hockey season is over, Daylin Monias is making sure his pair is kept nice and sharp.
After all, it’s not every day that you get invited to play hockey overseas.
According to Monias’s mother Carlee, the 11-year-old and his older brother Rydell are travelling to Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic for the first two weeks of August to play with the Top Guns AAA hockey development team known as the Canada Cowboys.
“We’re pumped. We’re really excited,” she said. “They go to Canmore for a week where they do a camp, and then they fly out for 12 days … they do the expedition games and then they play in the tournament in Prague.”
While Carlee is thrilled for her son, she isn’t exactly surprised that he is getting this kind of opportunity. After all, Monias has displayed a profound level of passion and commitment to the game ever since he was able to walk.
“I think he was born with skates on his feet,” she said. “We put him on skates and he took off when he was 18 months old and he hasn’t really turned back.”
Even though Monias has only been playing league hockey for six years, his talent and drive cannot be contained to a single squad. In the space of a single season, he’s been invited to lace up his skates for atom, peewee and a number of speciality teams like the Thompson Little Chiefs. And this isn’t even counting the hockey programs he participates in during off-season.
“[He] makes the passes that kids his age just can’t make or don’t even see,” said Ryan Stuart, who’s coached Monias for the last two years. “If he’s going into the corner with someone, he’s coming out with the puck almost every time … truthfully, he’s always been one of the best players from this last year.”
However, Stuart’s decision to make Monias captain of this year’s atom AA King Miners team ultimately came down to his qualities as a leader, including his good character and the fact that he never misbehaves.
Stuart went on to say that this season also represents a real career highlight for Monias.
Not only did he lead the atom AA and peewee A King Miners to decisive victories in the Munn Cup and Prince-Berscheid Memorial Hockey Tournament, respectively, but he also captured the Most Valuable Player award in both competitions.
Skate Canada also named Monias the Most Dedicated Norman CANPower Skate Athlete as part of their 2018 Manitoba Achievement Awards, although his mother pointed out that he was too busy competing in a hockey tournament in Morden to accept this award in person.
But Carlee revealed that this is just par for the course for their family, since hockey dominates their schedule year-round.
“We’re either at the rink or we’re at the outdoor rink, or sleeping. Or we’re travelling to a hockey tournament,” she said. “From the beginning of Christmas until [March], we’re home three weekends, and of those three weekends, two of them were home tournaments.”
Despite this gruelling schedule, Monias told the Thompons Citizen that his genuine enthusiasm for the sport hasn’t waned and he still has his eye on competing at a professional level once he gets older.
“I’m probably going to … play with a team down south and hopefully get scouted and play in like the OHL or something,” he said. “And then maybe the NHL.”
