Thunderbirds gather for training camp – watched by their families in the stands

The ShoWare Center fairly hummed with excitement this past weekend, as dozens of young, earnest athletes strapped on skates and pads, hoping for a coveted slot on the Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team. The Western Hockey League franchise was conducting its annual training camps – the wellspring of flying pucks and dented boards from which the team’s 2010-11 season squad will emerge.

The nailbiter event of the year for these athletes, the prospects camp started Aug. 26, and the main training camp began with a scrimmage Saturday night.

The goal is to narrow down a field of 48 contenders to a 25-member squad over the course of the camps and upcoming tournaments, so the pressure for these athletes, ranging in age from 16 to 21, is intense.

So too was the focus of the crowd who had come to watch the prospects play, among them hardcore fans and season ticket holders. But for some, these kids are more than just players; they are family.

Among the crowds at ShoWare Sunday night were players’ families and billets – the families with whom the players will live over the course of their new season.

“Oh, we’ve had fun,” said Auburn resident Jim Price, who sat with wife Kathie Price, watching “their” two players, Brennan Tutt and Austin Baker, compete.

The Prices are now entering their third year as billets for the T-Birds team.

“I’ve never had a boy, so it’s been kind of fun,” said Jim, who grew up in Minnesota, and understands the religious-like fervor attached to the sport.

“So far, we’ve had a lot of fun with Brennan,” he said, noting the returning center had moved in about four days ago, during which time they’d taken him to Alki in Seattle, a tour of the Ballard locks, and out dinner at Spuds, also in Seattle.

They were about to meet Baker for the first time, following that night’s scrimmage.

Jim noted just how much the players feel like family after a short time under the same roof – they got together with Jonathan Parker, whom they formerly billeted, and his father, earlier this summer. Parker had been with them until nearly Christmas of last year, when he was traded to the Prince Albert Raiders. It was a pretty wrenching change for the family to lose Parker, Jim noted.

But that is part of the game, and billets know it.

“They’re all capable of being released,” Jim said. “There’ll be some trades.”

Just a few rows up from the Prices were Michael and Cheryl Karr, former long-term billets who had come to watch the prospects and to meet up later with a former T-Bird player they had billeted – Rick Berry, now an NHL scout, and present at Sunday’s scrimmage.

They’ve got hockey in the family as well – their daughter, Stacey, is married to a now-retired ECHL player, Martin Cerven, who got his start as a T-Bird, and, incidentally, met Stacey through another T-Bird player who had been billeting with them. Michael recounted wryly that they had a standing policy prohibiting their daughter from dating players when she was in high school, but they relented on Cerven.

The rest is history: they’re still married, Stacey is a dentist, Cerven is retired and looking into a financial career. In short, they’re a happy couple.

All due in large part to the lifting of a dating embargo.

When asked what the billet family’s role is with these athletes, Michael said “huge.”

“When they come to you, they are 15-, 16-years old,” he said. “They’ve just left their families for the first time. They need a mother more than anybody. They need someone to pick them up from school, care for them when they are sick, and to get on them when they break curfew.

And in spite of their ice skills, leadership skills and seemingly adult outward appearance, “they’re teenage boys, no matter how hard they try,” Michael said, grinning.

And keeping the fridge filled is another big part of the job.

“They can eat like horses,” Michael attested.

Following the scrimmage, another T-Bird-influenced family was waiting outside the locker room, camera in tow.

They were the family of returning defender Brenden Dillon.

All three of them: dad Ed, mom Debbie and sister Kirsten, had traveled down from Surrey, B.C., to see Brenden, now in his third year with Seattle, play and show their support.

They’re ardent fans of their son, with Ed driving down to nearly all of Brendan’s home games.

While they’re supportive of Brenden’s dream of becoming a professional hockey player, at first the prospect of his not entering college directly after high school did not sit well with his mom, who is a high-school teacher.

She had envisioned Brenden going through four years of high school in Surrey and graduating with his class, with college scholarships in hand.

“It was like, ‘ok,'” Debbie said, when she first learned Brenden had a chance to play in the WHL.

But she’s less critical, with the knowledge that ever year Brenden plays for the team, he will be getting a year of college funded through the WHL, if he doesn’t make the pros.

That, and Brenden is pursuing something he really wants.

“He’s living his dream and enjoying every minute of it,” she said.

But it isn’t always easy to watch your kid play, no matter what level of proficiency he is at – even if it is approaching the professional level.

Ed and Debbie attended Dillon’s game during Parent’s Weekend last year, and watched as Dillon incurred a concussion during the game.

Ed was able to go into the locker room to see his son. And Dillon, Debbie said, was raring to get back onto the ice, nearly as soon as he regained his senses.

“He was ready to go,” she said, noting medical staff made it clear he wasn’t going back out onto the ice, or in any future games, until he was recovered.

Dillon, who eventually met up with his family after the game and a shower, said it was good knowing his family was out there, supporting him.

“I don’t necessarily know where he’s sitting, but I know he’s there,” he said of Ed’s presence at so many of his games.

LEARN MORE ABOUT TRAINING CAMP:

visit the T-Birds Web site at www.seattlethunderbirds.com.