Andrew Ference once kidnapped prospects and took them out into the woods

''With @nhl development camps in full swing, a story When I was captain of the Oilers I was asked to come talk to the prospects during the camp in Jasper. I declined that offer but proposed an alternative that I believed held more value.''


‘'I called my buddy Lucas, an Army Ranger #RLTW from Boston, and a couple of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry members to help with the plan.''

‘'We got ALL the gear and plannedwell, basically to kidnap the prospects from their hotel and take them out into the woods for the rest of the day and overnight to do some «army stuff», as Lucas would say.''

‘'The prospects were given no heads up as to what the plan entailed but were thrown into a pretty crazy few hours of ambush, mock evacuations and other army team drills.''

‘'At the end of the day we had a big fire and ate some pretty disgusting MREs (army food in a package) and slept on the ground. No tents.''

‘'What did this have to do with hockey? Well, not much if you're just worried about pure skills. But if I'm a coach or a manager, on-ice skills are easy to see. What's harder to assess is the attitudes and leadership skills when thrown into a situation with adversity and stress.''

‘'A lot of someone's personality is revealed in a situation like this. Some reveal incredible attributes while others absolutely crumble.
The army guys and I voted on our standout guy, in a positive way, at the end and were unanimous for Leon Draisaitl.''

‘'The guys shared stories of their deployments and one really stuck out. Lucas was basically on the side of an Afghan mountain for over a month with 2 teammates in a scout/snipe position. They ate the same meal the whole time. MRE chicken with Tabasco sauce. It's all they had.''

‘'But they just dealt with it. Made humour of the situation and got on with doing the job.''

‘'I guaranteed the prospects that if they made the NHL, they would encounter a teammate complaining about the dry salmon at a pregame meal at the Four Seasons. I urged them to not be that guy and to always be in wonder at how fortunate they were.''

‘'Everyone has skills in the pros. Give me a team full of people who are self sufficient, leaders in the tough times and calm under duress. People who understand that it's a privilege to be on the team, it's not the team's privilege to have you.''

‘' this story probably reveals a bit of why I didn't always see eye to eye with some. But I didn't dream of making the NHL to make friends, I dreamt of winning and the friends I did make were cut from the same cloth.''