By CORY WOLFE
Times-Herald Sports Reporter
But he won't be strapping on the blades - he'll be in charge of them.
Mayer, the Moose Jaw Warriors' athletic trainer, will be Tam Canada's equipment manager at the upcoming Four Nations Cup in the Czech Republic. He leaves Sunday for training camp in North York, Ont. And returns Aug. 23 at 10 p.m. - just a short sleep away from the beginning of Warriors' rookie camp the next morning.
"I don't know who is more excited, my parents or me," said Mayer, whose parents reside in Kelowna, B.C. "I think my mother might be a bigger hockey fan, or as big as, my father."
Growing up amidst the hockey fanaticism of "a typical Canadian family", Mayer remembers gathering in front of the T.V. over Christmas holidays to watch the World Junior Hockey Championships. Now, because the under-18 staff often moves up to the national junior team the following season, Mayer might have a more interactive adventure next Christmas.
Staff from all 54 Canadian major junior teams, plus university and junior ‘A' programs are eligible to apply for the support jobs. Since most applicants have a few years of experience before landing one of the positions, Mayer wasn't surprised when he received his initial rejection letter.
He went on with his summer and was working on his clinical hours in Saskatoon as part of his athletic therapist certification.
"I phoned down here one day and (Warriors' office manager) Deb (Noble) says, ‘Did Team Canada get a hold of you?' I said, ‘Well no,' and she said, ‘Team Canada wants to offer you some job and if you don't get a hold of them today, they're going to give it to some guy in the Quebec League.'"
The equipment manager position became available when the original candidate accepted a job with a Texas pro team and had to relinquish the national spot.
Meanwhile, WHL commissioner Dev Dley bumped into Warriors' head coach Len Nielsen and general manager Ralph Schmidt at the NHL draft in Boston and informed them of Hainault's search for Mayer.
"Lenny phoned him from Boston ad said, ‘Greg will take the job. I know how to get a hold of him,'" relayed Mayer.
With the job now secured, Mayer can get on with helping Canada defend the tournament title Jamie Lundmark helped win last summer before joining the Warriors for his rookie season. Warriors' 17-year-old prospect Ben Knopp will be part of this year's team which competes against the United States, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Like the players, Mayer will be scouted in a sense, too. He hopes to make contacts towards moving up in the hockey world.
"Just like these guys in here," Mayer said from the Warriors' dressing room, "my goal would be to work for an NHL team - preferably the Boston Bruins."
With the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets set to join the NHL next season, Mayer plans to send out some résumés. However, Warrior World isn't a bad alternative if he doesn't get any offers, he said.
"If the worst thing that ever happened was I stayed and worked with the Warriors and had a clinic on the side, I'd be happy with that too."
WARRIOR SCALPINGS...Before coming to Moose Jaw, Greg Mayer was part of the training staff for a team at an international bantam ‘AAA' tournament in Vancouver. - August 6, 1999
Because Mayer had bought a house with his new wife, tracking him down turned into an adventure for Denis Hainault of the Canadian Hockey Association.
Among the participants were WHLers like Moose Jaw's Jason Weitzel, Calgary's Brad Moran and Prince Albert's Richard Seeley...Warrior conditioning camp is set to start Aug. 16 while Rookie Camp opens Aug. 24 followed by main training camp Aug. 30. The first pre-season game is Aug. 28 at home to the Swift Current Broncos.
