Team Saskatchewan celebrates their Gold Medal victory over Alberta at the 1995 Canada Winter Games in Grande Prairie. Patrick Marleau (below the coach on the right in the blue jacket) played for that team. It was Saskatchewan's first Gold Medal ever at the Canada Winter Games. Photo Credit: Canada Winter Games staff

By Shane Clausing (Twitter: @ShaneC06)

Patrick Marleau

Canada Winter Games gold in Grande Prairie one of many milestones for NHL games leader Marleau

Apr 22, 2021 | 2:35 PM

It has been over 25 years since Grande Prairie played host to the Canada Winter Games – a games that would prove to an early milestone moment for an NHL record holder.

The games, held from February 19 to March 4, 1995, brought the countries best young athletes to the city to participate in various sports.

Those games also featured what is remembered as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the games, as the Saskatchewan men’s hockey team defeated heavily-favoured Alberta on Canada Games Arena ice (now the former Revolution Place) to win their province’s first-ever gold medal at the competition.

Team Saskatchewan was led by then 15-year-old forward Patrick Marleau, who on Monday night passed Gordie Howe for the most games played in NHL history by suiting up for his 1,768th career contest.

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Junior hockey scouts were intrigued by Marleau and his skillset heading into the 1995 tournament, after he was a major factor in helping his team emerge victorious at the 1992-93 Vancouver Pee Wee Super Series (according to the 1995 Team Saskatchewan media guide).

Former Assistant Coach with Team Saskatchewan, now Assistant General Manager of the NHL’s Washington Capitals Ross Mahoney, says that tournament in Grande Prairie proved to scouts that Marleau had the ability to play at a high level in his career.

“It was a 16-year-old tournament, but Patrick was only a 15-year-old. I think he was leading the Saskatchewan AAA league in scoring at the time, and he was probably our best player on a gold medal team. We knew that Patrick had a lot of ability.”

While Marleau showcased his skills on the ice, his stats didn’t jump out, much like most of the Saskatchewan team.

“I don’t think we had anybody in the top 20 in scoring in the tournament,” explained Mahoney.

“We weren’t the highest-scoring team, but we really limited the chances we gave up and when you are giving up less than two goals a game you don’t have to score a whole lot.”

Mahoney tells EverythingGP that getting to the final and defeating Alberta was a big deal.

“We were kind of told that we would probably be seeded as the seventh-best team (at the tournament),” said Mahoney. “We just thought, if we could give ourselves a chance to get into the medal round anything could happen.”

Team Alberta was the favourite to win the tournament and would end up having six players from that team get drafted into the NHL just a couple of years later, four of which went in the first round (Chris Phillips, Johnathan Aitken, Josh Holden and Derek Morris)

While Marleau was the star of the team, Mahoney says it was a real team effort that got them to the finish line.

“The guys were fantastic on the team and they were like sponges. They soaked up everything we gave them as coaches and carried out our plan to a tee.”

He also credited Marleau’s leadership as to why they were able to win and also why he’s been able to have such a lengthy and established NHL career.

“Patrick was probably our best offensive player, but (it’s) even more remarkable about all the goals, assists and longevity of his career, he’s just a really good guy and really good person,” said Mahoney.

“He’s a really good teammate. He’s more of a quieter person, but he’s quietly confident. I’m so happy to see the success he’s had in his career. It’s remarkable to be able to play that many games for that many years at such a high level.”

A year after the Canada Winter Games, Marleau was selected sixth overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. He would spend two seasons in Seattle before getting drafted second overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 1997 NHL Draft.

With Marleau possibly in the last season of his NHL career at the age of 41, Mahoney says his career exceeded everybody’s expectations.

“We thought that Patrick would be a high pick in the NHL Draft. Did we think he would be a good NHL player? Yes, but he became even better than we thought.”

Mahoney says there was one more thing that stood out about the games, and that was how well they were treated throughout their stay in the Swan City.

He added it was a tremendously well set-up event and the community couldn’t have been better hosts.