SPORTS FLASHBACK 2011: Petkau guides Reimer to NHL stardom in Toronto for Leafs

Despite countless losing seasons in Toronto in recent decades, players for Toronto Maple Leafs are still number one among sports fans in Canada’s biggest city.

The most popular Leaf these days is an unlikely one, who is even more popular than superstar Dion Phaneuf, who was acquired last year from the Calgary Flames, in a multi-player trade including Steinbach’s Ian White.

In a recent fan poll conducted in Toronto, rookie netminding sensation James Reimer from Morweena, Manitoba was at the top of the list.

Hockey fans, and many others for that matter, are now aware of the meteoric rise of the 23-year-old in hockey’s biggest market. But few are aware that his agent, friend and confidante is Steinbach player agent Ray Petkau, owner of HipCheck Sports Management.

But Petkau isn’t Reimer’s only connection to Steinbach, as the goaltender’s grandparents also live in the community.

The Leafs fell just short of qualifying for the post-season, but the heroics of James Reimer for the Leafs down the stretch will be remembered for some time to come.

Reimer, having toiled for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies until making his first NHL start on New Year’s Day in Ottawa, quickly made his presence felt with the big club. Reimer backstopped the Leafs to a 5-1 victory, making 32 saves along the way. And the rest is history, as we say.

Reimer finished the 2010-2011 season with scintillating numbers. He had a 20-5-3 record while posting a 2.60 goals-against average.

Petkau says he has retold the story countless times this year to media outlets around the world, of how he discovered Reimer playing in a church hockey tournament in Steinbach when he was just 13. Petkau played on the same team in that tourney. He had never seen Reimer before, but after watching him play, in just his second year of hockey, Petkau predicted that Reimer would one day play in the NHL.

A couple of years later, Reimer played for the Interlake Lightning and stonewalled the Eastman Selects on more than one occasion, back in the same arena in Steinbach.

Then it was on to a successful junior career in Red Deer and Reimer was drafted in the fourth round, 99th overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft.

A lifelong Winnipeg Blue Bomber fan, the Toronto Argonauts asked if Reimer would make the official coin toss at an Argos game this summer.

He graciously declined, citing his allegiance to the Bombers. Petkau subsequently got on the phone to the Bombers and asked if they were interested in having the Maple Leafs goaltender make the coin toss at a Bomber game.

“They were all over that one,” chuckled Petkau. Mark it on your calendars. James Reimer will make the toss at the July 14 game at Canad Inns Stadium, when the Bombers host the Calgary Stampeders.

Petkau says obviously it has been an exciting time for him, as the rest of the world now knows how good of a goaltender his client is.

“James Reimer is one of the nicest, most grounded people you will ever meet; it is a privilege to be associated with him and his family.”

Petkau is one of only three certified player agents in Manitoba and says he has had the privilege of negotiating hundreds of contracts for his clients over the years.”

It will be major news when James Reimer’s newest contract is ironed out, negotiated by Steinbach’s Ray Petkau.

In June 2011, James Reimer signed a three-year, $5.4 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This contract had an annual cap hit of $1.8 million.