Travelling through a spring snowstorm in prairies would not surprise most Albertans. However, moving from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to the Town of Bonnyville while encountering a blizzard in the middle of April can certainly shock the system.
That is exactly what first-year Pontiac Max Collins saw and felt as he moved from his relatively warm-weather home in North Carolina to northern Alberta to be a part of the Pontiacs' organization this past spring.
“When I came to spring camp and it was still snowing, that kind of hit me hard,” Collins explained in an interview with the Nouvelle last week.
“We went through a snowstorm to get here in the spring time. So I'm going from 80-degree weather to 30 degrees and a snowstorm. That was definitely a newsflash of what I was getting into.”
But being the focused and determined person he is, Collins said the drastic differences are nothing he can't handle.
“It's a little different, but I don't mind, it's all for hockey. I'd do anything for hockey.”
Collins started playing hockey around age seven when his father, working at the Fort Bragg military base, found out about free ice-time available for kids. So he got his son the gear and signed him up for ice hockey.
Collins said at first he was not into playing hockey. He had been skating on rollerblades since age four, but with all the gear on found it difficult to play.
“My dad got me all dressed at home and threw me on the ice. At first I thought I was too fat to play,” he said, laughing. “I was crying, didn't want to get on the ice, but my dad convinced me it was a good idea.”
Looking back, Collins is thankful his dad literally pushed him into hockey.
“I really started getting into it and then hockey just kind of gained my interest over anything else.”
Collins played house-level hockey for much of his childhood, but as he reached his teen years hockey started to get more competitive.
“My dad moved around a lot for awhile and I played roller hockey and ice hockey wherever we were, but I didn't really know what hockey was all about until we moved back to North Carolina and I started my peewee major year and really got into it.”
It was during the Mac's Midget AAA tournament contact between Collins and the Pontiacs began.
Collins met Jeff Tetz, Pontiacs director of player personnel, while playing at the tournament and then met head coach and general manager Chad Mercier.
Collins said it was not a difficult choice to come to Bonnyville.
“The program was the most welcoming out of all the junior teams I met with,” he explained. “They definitely show that they want you here and make you feel comfortable with what you are getting into.”
When asked what type of player he feels he is, Collins said he likes to model his game after gritty players like Sean Avery, who play hard and hit a lot.
“My favourite part of the game is hitting,” he said. “I love going out there and getting the big hit to get my team going.”
Collins said offensively he is more of a playmaker than a scorer. He has contributed two goals and four assists in 15 games so far this season.
He said he has a lot more to give and believes the structure and discipline expected by the Pontiacs will help get him there.
Mercier also believes there is another level Collins' game can get to, but said he is very happy with the adjustment Collins has made coming to Bonnyville and the physical contributions he has provided the team.
“The first thing that stood out was Max's ability to get around the ice and his compete level,” explained Mercier. “He exhibits a combination of good speed, skill and grit.”
“The more we got to know him, the more we thought he would be a good fit here.”
Mercier added, “I think there is better yet to come from Max Collins and that's not taking anything away from what he has done up until now.”
Collins said his future plans include college, particularly business and entrepreneurship, though his immediate plans are to play competitive hockey at the junior level and then, if things work out, play at the college or university level.
For now though, Collins will stick to playing hockey for the Pontiacs, a team he says gets along very well, except for when teammates make fun of his tweeting habit.
Though, it should be noted, Collins' tweeting “habit” is not so much a habit as it is regular use of the social media site Twitter, where, conversely many of the other Pontiacs have not even joined Twitter yet.
“It's a little different here, the guys pick on me about tweeting all the time,” he explained. “I think it's more popular right now back in the States. I've only had it six months and I tend to use it for contact with friends back home, but the guys still like to pick on me for it.”
“I guess my new nickname here is Mr. Tweet-a-lot.”
