COLD LAKE – Earlier this month marked the last regular season game for Logan Bohme of Cold Lake, who is currently playing with the U18AA Lakeland Panthers hockey team.
While Bohme prepares to move on to new opportunities, his teammate Jared Cadieux, who is also from Cold Lake, still has one year left playing minor hockey.
After the Panthers’ game on March 4 against the U18 AA KC Colts, Bohme and Cadieux reflected on their time playing minor hockey.
When he was just getting started with the sport at the age of four, Bohme remembers telling himself, “I don’t want to be here anymore... Then, five minutes later, I didn’t want to leave,” Bohme says, with a smile.
From that day on, “It has been the love of my life.”
Similar to Bohme, Cadieux comes from a hockey family, and got started playing the sport at just four years old. “Everyone was playing hockey in my family,” he says.
Another similar aspect the two share is the ambition to get better at the game, pushing themselves to play at a higher level.
Prior to joining the Panthers, both played for the Cold Lake Ice with Cold Lake Minor Hockey. For Bohme, he only joined the Panthers for the 2022-23 season – spending the majority of his minor hockey career playing for the Ice.
On the other hand, Cadieux has been part of the Lakeland Panthers program for a couple of seasons.
Both agree that being involved with minor hockey has pushed them to work harder and push their limits because – as they simultaneously answered: “Everyone wants to win.”
“You want to go to provincials, and you want to get the trophy,” said Cadieux.
Bohme agreed, stating, “Everyone in this league is skilled... everyone wants to have the edge on the other.” So, “You can’t just show up to the rink and skate around, you want to show up, play 100 per cent, and win every game you can – to play your best."
For Bohme, playing his last regular season games this season was a mix of emotions. On the one hand, they were just games to play and games to finish. Of course, he showed up and played at his best. But at the same time, there was a sense of finality to them, “because you know it’s your last minor hockey games ever.”
“You're never going to get your childhood back, so you want to put everything you can into it and just live every moment of it,” Bohme explained. “You just cherish the memories with your team and live in the moment.”
Bohme hopes to play junior hockey at some level in the future, “go to school, and get my life together a little bit.”
He thanked his teammates and coaches for a great season, describing his time with the Panthers as a fun-filled experience – from practices, to traveling, or just hanging out – “it has been a blast.”
“I love this team... every guy on this team is awesome... I wish I could see them again next year,” Bohme said. Maybe one day, one way or another, “I’ll hopefully play with them again in the future,” he added.
Meanwhile, for Cadieux with one season left to play minor hockey, he is excited to become a veteran of the team and is already getting prepped for next season, "And hopefully win it all next year.”
