Thursday, March 26, 2015 1:36:35 EDT PM
KIRKLAND LAKE - Former Kirkland Lake Gold Miners’ defenceman Ethan Strong, who has aged-out and will not be in the line up next season, recently looked back on his time with the team and living in Kirkland Lake.
“These past three years playing for the Gold Miners and living in Kirkland Lake have been the best three years of my life and such an amazing experience. I’ve met so many awesome people here. I’m positive I will stay in touch with them forever and come visit often. A huge thank you goes out to Dave and Debbie Bolger who opened their house for me to live in and treated me just like their own son for the past three years. I could not have done it without them. I also would like to thank all the other billet families that opened their doors for me and made me feel apart of the family. I would also like the to thank the entire Gold Miner coaching and training staff, coach Marc, coach Tom and coach Jed, as well as Carla and Amanda. Thank you for everything you did for me over the years. I also would like to thank the executive staff and the whole Gold Miner organization for making everything possible. A lot of work goes into making a hockey team an class A+ organization. Another big thank you goes out to the fans and the town of Kirkland Lake for supporting the Gold Miners. Without the support from the fans and the community none of this would be possible.
“Being a player who aged out this year I’m very frustrated with how our season ended. I always want to win especially in my last year of Junior hockey, and I hate loosing but at the end of the day you can’t win them all and give credit to Powassan as they played a very good series. The biggest thing I’ll remember from these past three years is all the fantastic people, including the players and fans I met and winning the championship. Not every player will get to experience winning a championship and I don’t think I would want to have won the championship In any other town. Right from the beginning living in KL felt like home I was able to do everything that I enjoyed on a regular basis including hunting, fishing, and snowmobiling. There isn’t many places around where so many people would go above and beyond, giving information to just about everything I asked like the people of Kirkland lake did. It’s been a blast living and getting to know people in Kirkland Lake Lake. I will be back to visit as much as I can. Again thank you to everyone of Kirkland Lake.”