Pilon leaves Wheat Kings; Sayers retires from hockey

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Pilon couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

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In the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft, the Hurricanes drafted Pilon third overall. In that same draft, they also took Prince Albert’s Bryton Sayers with the 48th overall pick in the third round, who also has recently left the game.

Sayers announced that he retired from the game of hockey on Sunday while at Saskatoon Blades training camp.  

“The whole summer, I was thinking about it. Last year, I lost the love for the game,” Sayers told paNOW.com. “It was quite a hard season last year. Then this year, I was ready to try it out in Saskatoon, but I didn’t think it was fair to them for me to not be 100 per cent passionate for the game anymore.

“It was pretty much just the full season. There wasn’t really a team, there wasn’t really a coach that made the issue. They didn’t make any issues, but personally, I just lost my love for going to the rink.”

Sayers was a third round pick, 48th overall in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft by the Lethbridge Hurricanes after he won the Centre Four Hockey League Bantam AA provincial championship with the Prince Albert Venice House Pirates.

He then played two years with the Prince Albert Mintos in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League, winning the league’s Defenceman of the Year Award in 2013. His rookie season was in the 2013-2014 Hurricanes’ turmoil-filled season where they went 12-55-2-3. He stayed on the Hurricanes the following season before getting traded to the Victoria Royals, who went to the second round of the playoffs.

Although he’s lost his love for the game, Sayers can look back on his hockey career with fondness. He’ll remember the connections he made with his teammates the most.

“It was really the little things,” said Sayers. “It wasn’t really winning the champions, it wasn’t really winning the provincials, it was the little things like all the boys getting together for a movie or something, or going to the rink and having a blast. Messing around after practice, it was just the little things that made it the fun times.”

Last year, Carson Perreaux retired from the Prince Albert Raiders and said he was done with hockey. He resurfaced with the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in January before winning the 2015 RBC Cup National Championship.

Since announcing his retirement, Sayers has already received offers from a number of teams, including the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and a number of Junior B teams, including his hometown Prince Albert Icehawks. Despite the attention, Sayers is still undecided on whether he’ll carry on with hockey this year.

“I’m just not sure. If I still love the game, I’d still be in the WHL. I didn’t retire to go and play a lower level of hockey, if that makes sense,” said Sayers. “There’s been a lot of questions and a lot phone calls and stuff for me to play on the Icehawks.

“It’s close to home and I could still go to school and I could still work. That one’s been asked a few times, I’m not sure how that will end up. I’m not sure what I’ll do in the future.”

For now, Sayers has enrolled in the carpentry program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in Saskatoon.

Broncos release Warkentine

Prince Albert’s Miles Warkentine was released by the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday.

Warkentine is a former first round, 16^th overall pick of the 2011 WHL Entry Draft.

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea