Saskatchewan's young star singlehandedly wins a game for the for a really aweful team. Atta boy Schenn-ster!

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Saskatoon, SK product Luke Schenn has happily surprised us here at The Prairie Puck by taking center stage in a shootout victory by the Toronto Maple leafs. Our boy was plus 3 in a 3-3 game (figure it out son, he was on the ice every time something good happened), and he scored a beauty shootout goal to win it. As of 10:43 pm on Monday night there were no clips of the goal on YouTube. We'll post it when we find it. Until then, just keep Luke Schenn and our main squeeze, Jeremy Williams, in your thoughts and prayers.

Boys, we love you unconditionally (you can tell because we cheer for you even though you play for the team we hate the most).

The smartest man in hockey history... but that's not what he's headed to HHOF for.

The great Wade Belak. He was born in Saskatoon, and grew up in the Saskatchewan town of North Battleford. At an early age his goal was to become a lifeguard, but some extraordinary hockey skills lead him away from copious amounts of sunscreen and warm, heavily chlorinated H2O, and headed instead for the white frozen stuff. Unfortunately for him, he ended up with the Toronto maple leafs after stints with the Calgary Flames and the Colorado Avalanche. He was so depressed about his situation in T.O. that he was forced to aim low. Very low. Check out the video and see for yourself.

WADE BELAK ON SPORTSNET

Luckily for Wade, he recently was blessed with a trade to the Florida Panthers, where the hockey is not much better, but at least the winters are less frigid. And who knows how his career may go from here. Maybe he'll decide to try out that top line. Maybe he'll give that lifeguarding thing another shot. Maybe he'll choose a new dream to chase.

Whatever you choose to do Mr. Belak, Saskatchewan supports you. You may have caught some bad luck, accidentally scored a goal, and stopped your record-setting dreams in the their tracks, but know that we'll be right behind you when you decide it's time to go after it again. God Speed.

If I had one wish (and I already had everything I could ever ask for), this is what I would want...

Ladies and gentlemen, The Prairie Puck is pleased and proud to give you content relevent to Saskatchewan and the NHL, while keeping a pretty good hate for the Maple Leafs as a sort of backdrop to the whole idea. Well, this post will bring everything together in a smorgasborg of information you need to know, all provided with a purpose. The information is about Saskatchewan product Jeremy Williams, and the purpose is to get him the hell outta hockey's history-filled anus.

First, a little info on our poor friend. Jeremy Williams was born in Glenavon, SK. He played his junior hockey with the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL where he averaged (after some quick calculations in my brain) 1.72011 points per game from 2001 (where he played 2 games and got 2 points) to his best and final season in '03-'04, where he accumulated 101 points in 68 games. His career was off to a great start, right?

That's what he thought too, until he heard his name called in the 2003 entry draft, selected 220th overall by the dreaded Toronto Maple Leafs. When poor Jeremy was drafted, the leafs (whom I hereafter refuse to dignify with a capital letter) were in the middle of a cycle where they picked up formerly great (or almost great) players who were slightly or extremely beyond their primes. Names like Jason Allison, Gary Roberts, Owen Nolan, and Ron Francis spring to mind. Williams got caught in a situation where the city demanded they win now, and filling the roster with the has-beens seemed like a better idea than developing some young talent.

However, with the deck stacked against him, our hero Jeremy Williams managed a feat none other can say they have accomplished. He scored his first three goals in his first three games, one goal a game, ONE GOAL A YEAR. Read it again if you can't believe it. His first goal was in '06 against Pittsburg. His second goal was in '07 against the Montreal Canadians (who I only support out of a hatred for the leafs, by the way). His third goal was against the Florida Panthers in '08, and since then he has only scored one more goal. Of course a man from Glanavon, Saskatchewan would hold a record like this. Obscurity just may be one of small-town-sk's best traits. Atta boy Jeremy, atta boy.

In all, Jeremy Williams has 4 goals and 0 assists in 20 NHL games. There is no more perfect place for the petition to begin. We need to get this potential provincial hero out of Toronto and into somewhere... anywhere, so that he can get some playing time and develop into a solid NHL player. It doesn't seem to me that he's going to tear up the scoresheet, but at least it will stop tearing up my eyes when I watch him sit on the bench, hoping against all hope that things will change. A trade or a free agent signing is the only hope, and this just could be the petition to get him there.

So post your support for Jeremy Williams, a good Saskatchewan kid who just needs a chance. You can post a comment here on the blog or email us at prairiepuck@hotmail.com. Let's get this ball rolling, and get our boy out of the blue-and-white black hole of Canadian hockey.

Thanks for listening, and stay tuned.