Reid, Tait added to Horns' roster

trevor.kenney — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 20:54:39 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns men's hockey team bolstered its present with an eye on the future Thursday, introducing two new goaltenders to the mix.

With incumbent and 2009-10 Canada West All-Star Scott Bowles entering his final year of eligibility, Horns head coach Greg Gatto announced the signing of a pair of Western Hockey League graduates, former Spokane Chief James Reid and Lethbridge Hurricane Dylan Tait.

"Bowles has been the backbone for us his entire career but we felt it was important to bring in quality competition and set ourselves up heading into his graduation after this season," says Gatto. "The last thing we want to do is go into a season with nothing but true freshmen as starting goalies."

Reid, a six-foot Calgary native, is coming off an outstanding final season of junior hockey where he was named the Western Conference nominee for the WHL goalie of the year. During his final year of junior hockey, Reid led the Chiefs to the Western Conference final. In 50 regular season appearances, his 2.52 goals against average was fourth best in the WHL and he recorded 35 wins, sixth in the league despite missing significant time due to injury.

"Reid has been one of the top goaltenders in the WHL the last few seasons and we are really excited to have him join the Horns," says Gatto.

Tait, a Lethbridge Athletic Association product, joins the Horns after his lone full season in the WHL with the hometown Lethbridge Hurricanes. Last year, Tait made 27 appearances for the Hurricanes and finished 6-10-1 with a 4.13 goals against average and 0.883 save percentage. Just 19, he gives up his final year of eligibility in the WHL to begin his post-secondary career.

"The last couple of years, seeing what kind of program was taking shape here and knowing some of the guys who have played here and really enjoyed it, I was really looking for an opportunity to come here," says Tait.

Prior to suiting up with the Hurricanes, Tait played with the Drumheller Dragons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

He's excited about the opportunity to work under Bowles, learning not only the goaltending position at the Canada West level but also how to balance an academic career. He plans on studying biological sciences.

"A big thing for me is the school aspect. I've heard he's a great student so hopefully he can show me how to create a good balance between hockey and school because he does such a great job with both," says Tait.

The Lethbridge native developed in the LAA and was part of the goaltending tandem with the Y's Men Titans that led the Alberta Midget Hockey League South Division with a 25-4-7 record and surrendered a league low 84 goals. Tait finished with a 11-2-3 record and a 2.91 goals against average.

"It is important for our program to have quality local guys return or stay in Lethbridge," says Gatto. "Dylan will battle and give us great depth at the goaltending position."

Tait joins a growing list of southern Alberta products to join the Horns in recent years with the likes of Taylor Gal, Mason Conway, Winston Day Chief and Cam Creighton.

Region's elite level athletes are in good Stead

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:16:34 +0000

Shawn Stead knows a good athlete when he sees one. If things go as planned, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will get used to seeing them more and more on campus in the near future.

Stead (BA '04) is the U of L's new High Performance Manager, Strength and Conditioning, meaning he works with the area's best young talents in the hopes of training the next generation of national and Olympic-level athletes. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ will be the hub of that training program.

"The long term goal is to identify and develop young athletes from a number of sporting bodies within Alberta," Stead says. "If they are in this region, bring them in here and train them, providing them with the services they will need to have success."

A Creston, B.C. native, Stead has essentially been a Lethbridge resident for eight-plus years. He finished his kinesiology degree at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in 2004, all the while working with the Pronghorns men's and women's soccer programs.

"We had a lot of success as far as reducing injuries and then on-field success as far as teams making playoffs that hadn't made it before, and I believe that was part of it," he says.

Following graduation, Stead enjoyed an internship with the United States Ski Association in Park City, Utah. Over the course of his nine-month assignment he was given access to the association's world-class training centre.

"You got the all-encompassing view of what an athlete needs to have success and the support staff of these national and Olympic programs," Stead says. "Getting the chance to work and test athletes at the Olympic level was an eye opener, a really good experience."

Upon his return to Canada, he partnered with a colleague in establishing a private sport training company, Crash Conditioning, which focuses on developing the area's elite hockey players. His clients include the Western Hockey League's Lethbridge Hurricanes; including individual players such as two-time World Junior gold medalist Zach Boychuk, as well as the midget AAA Y's Men Titans, the city's top level minor hockey team.

Stead's techniques focus on building well-rounded athletes from early on in their development.

"We teach mobility and movement mechanics," he says. "Essentially it's strength in movement, if you are strong in the movements that relate to your sport, you're probably going to be a pretty proficient athlete.

"If you can get athletes when they're young, that's the ideal situation. You want to provide them with a foundation that they can develop, over time, all the characteristics of an elite athlete. That begins with mobility work and flexibility work and then as they age you can start to incorporate more strength work and other modalities."

The program is in its infancy, Stead having just opened his office in May of last year. As it develops, he sees the U of L becoming a centre for athletic excellence and whether that translates into more prominent young athletes becoming a part of Pronghorn Athletics remains to be seen. Either way, it raises the profile of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and Sport and Recreation Services in Lethbridge and southern Alberta.

"The sky's the limit and this facility has a lot of potential," Stead says. "We're slowly moving in a positive direction. It's taken some time but it's there and when we get over the hump, it'll be really good."

GET THE FACTS

• Stead, married to wife Julie, was an all-sport athlete in high school but progressed furthest in golf and hockey, where he had a brief taste of the junior level

• Crash Conditioning, his private enterprise, trains 40-plus hockey players in Lethbridge and another 100-plus in Calgary

• Stead works with all disciplines, including elite level canoers like part-time
U of L student Daniel Purcell, a member of Canada's
National Development Team

• The majority of Stead's clients will train in PE157, a room that is currently being developed to include field turf

• The sports centre concept is already being utilized in areas such as Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary and Medicine Hat. The U of L program would work under the auspices of the Alberta Sport Development Centres, with Lethbridge as the Southwest office

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Reid, Tait added to Horns' roster

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