Former WHLer trades hockey for instrumentation career

Former Western Hockey League (WHL) defenceman Colin Scherger is shifting gears from a hockey career to a trades career at Lakeland College. He is also one of 301 recipients of a WHL Scholarship.

The WHL scholarship enables graduate players to use the money to cover the full cost of tuition, textbooks and compulsory fees at any one of 68 post-secondary institutions throughout North America. Scherger chose Lakeland and is taking his first training period in instrumentation.

Before launching his trades career, Scherger played for the Seattle Thunderbirds, Prince Albert Raiders and the Prince George Cougars.

The first time Scherger hit the ice as a youngster, he was about 5 years old.

“My parents put me in a skating program so I could learn how to skate well. It gave me good balance and I learned how to use my edges. I learned a lot but I did have a hockey stick in my hand a short time later,” says Scherger.

As a first year Atom player, parents began driving him from their home in Bonnyville to Edmonton every weekend to elite spring hockey.

“It took up a lot of time but I never really felt pushed,” says Scherger. “I really enjoyed it. When I got older, my family moved to Medicine Hat and I had the chance to play Bantam AAA. After my second year I was drafted by the Seattle Thunderbirds. I was 14 years old and it was a big step.”

“I had never been outside of Canada before but it was awesome. They flew me down to Seattle and I got to hang out with a lot of older guys that I really looked up to. Even though I was from a small town, I loved the big city. It was very exciting.”

When Scherger turned 15, he got called up to join the team for practices and exhibition games. He played his first WHL game at theage of 15 on December 27, 2005. It was against Kamloops at Seattle.

“I remember being in the dressing room with all the older players and thinking that I couldn’t believe that I too was getting ready to play with them,” says Scherger. “I also remember stepping on to the ice and seeing the thousands and thousands of fans. I had never played on an ice surface this big before. It was very exciting to be there.”

After that, he spent the rest of the 2005-2006 season and the following year in Seattle. In 2007-2008, he was traded to the Prince Albert Raiders and then eventually to Prince George Cougars for where he finished his WHL career in 2009.

Scherger says that while his experience in the WHL took place when he was very young, it has given him a life’s worth of learning experiences and valuable lessons.

“Hockey put me on a path where I was really happy to be. I met a lot of great people, made a lot of good friends, and I got to train and play hard,” says Scherger. It also taught him a lot of life codes. “I learned from my hockey career to never give up. When I was traded, it made me stronger.”

Now as a 23-year-old Scherger laces up his skates for the Macklin Mohawks. Number 8 on the roster, he wears the same number that his dad wore when he played for the team. He also played for the Lloydminster Border Kings when they hosted the 2012 Allen Cup in their hometown.

Scherger is employed with Pyramid Corporation, started his first year of instrumentation apprenticeship training at Lakeland’s Vermilion campus in October.

In Photo: Colin Scherger in one of the instrumentation labs at Lakeland's Vermilion campus.