Darcy Hordichuk was never much of a goal scorer in hockey, but he brought something else to the table as a hockey player.
After playing midget hockey with the then Yorkton Mallers, the Kamsack-born forward joined the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for three games in the 1996–97 season.
The next season he was with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). In 58-games with the Kings, Hordichuk had 12 goals and 33 points, as well as 279 penalty minutes. He would spend the next two seasons in the WHL, playing with the Saskatoon Blades, where he had 515 penalty minutes in 129 games, including 73 fights.
The toughness Hordichuk showed earned him a spot in the draft. At 22, he was drafted in 2000 by the Atlanta Thrashers as the 180th overall pick in the sixth round.
Hordichuk would make it to the National Hockey League with Atlanta, (now Winnipeg), in the 2000-01 season playing in 11 games. It would be the start of an extended pro career with a number of NHL franchises. He would play in 542 regular season games, scoring only 20 goals and 41 points, but amassing 1140 penalty minutes with time spent with Atlanta, Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers and ending his career with the Edmonton Oilers.
Last Wednesday Hordichuk was in Yorkton at FFUN Motor Sports signing autographs and helping with a Yorkton Boys and Girls Club fundraiser barbecue.
“It’s always fun to come back home. I try to get back, if not every summer, every second summer,” he said, adding he still has family in the Kamsack area and it’s good for his sons Braden and Declan, who both play hockey in Arizona, to see where he came from.
As for the signing, that too is something Hordichuk said he likes doing.
“It’s a way to give back to the community,” he said.
Hordichuk realizes he was fortunate to have had more than 500 games in the NHL, but added it was not exactly his childhood dream either.
“It was fun. It wasn’t about making the NHL, it was about what you learn along the way,” he said, adding “I never came from that family, where it was the dream. My parents never played sports, so we never really thought about it.
“I was just a farm boy from Saskatchewan working on the farm.”
But as Hordichuk progressed in hockey he found a niche.
“I fell in love with protecting my teammates, and the camaraderie (of the game),” he said.
And then Tyler Wright, also from Kamsack was drafted 12th overall by Edmonton in 1991.
“The kind of inspires you,” said Hordichuk. “There was a sense of hope … everything is possible.”
But in his first draft eligible year Hordichuk was passed over. It was only a telephone call by Brad McCrimmon, a former NHLer, and the head coach of the Saskatoon Blades, suggesting the Thrashers take a chance on the tough-as-nails enforcer.
Hordichuk would spend his career ready to drop his gloves against the league’s tough guys. It was a role he recognizes is all but gone from the game today as the league and players have grown concerned about the residual effects on health.
“I realize the role is gone, that I was one of the last guys in that role,” he said, adding he doesn’t feel he has residual effects from his fights. “I think I did a good job of protecting myself. I tucked my chin.”
As for career highlights, Hordichuk never played for a Stanley Cup winner, but came close with the Canucks.
“Vancouver was fun when we had that run, (twice winning their division 2008-09 and 2009-10),” he said.
And while Nashville was not the team it is now when Hordichuk played for the Predators from 2005-08, “I kind of got the experience,” he said, adding you could feel the fans falling in love with the sport and the team.
But the biggest moment may have came early in his pro career, when in 2001 he won the Turner Cup, top prize in the International Hockey League with the Orlando Solar Bears.
