There’s a moment as you weave west along the highway towards Canmore, Alta. when it all gets a bit surreal. The landscape seems to rise up and tilt towards you, mountains that were far off and cloaked in a distant haze suddenly looming, gargantuan and glorious. Your windshield becomes a postcard, a heaving swath of forest shooting to the sky on the left side of your dash, the greys of the Rockies towering straight ahead, while the Lac des Arcs unfolds in a shimmering expanse on your right.
Bryan Arneson, an assistant coach and assistant general manager for the town’s junior-A outfit, the Canmore Eagles, still hasn’t forgotten the first time he came upon that scene.
For Andrew Milne, the man who coached Arneson during those playing days in Canmore and still helms the Eagles bench beside him, the most memorable pass through that stretch of Rocky Mountain glory came a half-decade before Arneson’s inaugural trip. It was then that Milne began what’s stretched into a nearly two-decade tenure as head coach and general manager of the Eagles, a run that’s seen the 46-year-old entrench himself at the heart of Canmore’s tight-knit hockey community.
But long before Milne was working to grow the game in the mountains, he was cutting his teeth a few hours north, growing his own love of the game among a pair of Albertan legends in a hockey hotbed just outside of Edmonton.
“I grew up in St. Albert, which is a pretty popular hockey community,” Milne says. “Mark Messier lived just up the street from me. … As a young kid, I can remember watching the Oilers a ton in the heyday when they were winning all the Cups. I had a neighbour who had season tickets to the Oilers. Every time it snowed, I’d shovel his driveway just in an attempt that maybe he’d give me some tickets. And he used to do it all the time, so it worked out for me — I got to go to a lot of Oiler games.
“Mark being up the street, he played for the [AJHL’s St. Albert] Saints and then obviously the Oilers, so, you know, us getting to watch him grow up there and then play was sort of an indication that, ‘Hey, we could all do this.’”
The kids Milne shared the sheet with at the time seemed to reinforce that same message.
“You know, Jarome [Iginla] was a year older than me and in St. Albert playing at such an elite level. It was great to be there. We had an outdoor rink right by our house. Jarome could see it from his house. So, every night, you’d finish school, have dinner, and then head to the rink, and you knew you were going to see Jarome there,” Milne says. “I can remember being on the outdoor rink in Woodlands where I grew up all the time, playing with different guys. I have an older brother who’s four years older, and his friends were always out there, pushing you to play harder.”
Milne played hard enough to put together a career of his own, suiting up in St. Albert before moving on to the WHL — a path that eventually led him to another Western Canadian hockey mainstay. “I was playing in the Western Hockey League and, you know, my quality of skill level was not strong. I was more of a glue guy, a team guy,” Milne says. “But in my 19-year-old year [with the Swift Current Broncos], my coach was Todd McLellan.”
McLellan, who would go on to an NHL coaching career spanning 20 years and more than 1,100 games and counting, was the first one to turn Milne towards a life behind the bench.
“Todd and I chatted towards the end of the year about what my plans were moving forward. And like every Western Hockey League player, I told him I was going to play in the National Hockey League,” Milne remembers. “And he sort of identified, you know, ‘That’s probably not going to happen for you, Andrew. But you definitely could be a coach in the National Hockey League one day.’ … So, at 19 years of age, Todd brought me in a little bit on the coaching side, and I was able to participate in some coaching stuff with our group there in Swift Current. And then I played my 20-year-old year out with him and was able to play a little bit of pro after that, through another contact of Todd’s in Saskatchewan.
“When that ended, I came back to coach right at the end of the season, and joined the Swift Current Broncos for a run there coaching. And I fell in love with it.”
“You get out and you look, and you go, ‘Wow, this has got to be the most beautiful place, and the best place, to play junior hockey.’ And then after that, once you get into the community and you meet the people and you spend some time here, you realize that it really is one of the best places to play junior hockey.”
Learning the ropes behind the bench as an assistant coach in Swift Current, and then in Kamloops soon after, Milne found himself able to affect the game in ways that had seemed just out of reach during his playing days.
“I think I was implementing the things I’d witnessed as a player. I was always on top of the game as a player, reading and reacting to things — it’s just my skill-set wouldn’t allow me to do it. Mentally I could do it, physically I couldn’t. So, you know, for me to get into coaching and see players that could do it, it was fun,” he says. “It was really fun to educate them and help them through this journey. You know, guys that were much better players than I was, try to help them navigate it with a little bit of skill-set and some of the intangibles that I could help with.
“I thought there was an opportunity for me to help players get to where they wanted to get to, and I think that’s exciting. Being a part of helping somebody fulfill their dream was huge, you know?”
That player-first mentality still sits at the heart of Milne’s coaching philosophy, decades later.
“I really feel for the players,” he says. “I’ve been in their shoes. I’ve been there before. And I know they’re faced with all sorts of pressures and challenges. I think from my perspective, [being] here for the players would be my biggest motivating factor behind the opportunity to help. … The one thing I’ve always said to guys is, ‘I can’t guarantee you’re going to be a National Hockey League player, but I can guarantee you’re going to be an active member of a society somewhere.’ And if we can help that along the way, and win hockey games, we’ve done a great job, I think.”
It’s a philosophy informed by the lessons McLellan passed on during Milne’s time in his locker room.
“With Todd, it was always about quality individuals, quality people,” Milne explains. “He always talks about being a quality person first and a good hockey player second. And same thing with coaching — you want to be a quality individual first and a good coach second. … We want to mentor the guys on the ice, but also be available to these young men off the ice, and see if I can help in any way.”
In 2008, Milne’s brief run behind the bench in the WHL came to an abrupt halt. Midway through his second campaign with the Kamloops Blazers, the club was sold, and the coaching staff let go. After a run of stints as an assistant coach, it was a chance for a new chapter.
“For me, the plan was probably to go to junior-A and get some head coaching experience and then back up to the Western Hockey League as a head coach. That was the plan,” Milne says.
Then the mountains came calling. “I was really fortunate. I always tell guys, for every door that closes, another one opens. You know, we were down in the dumps on getting fired in Kamloops, and within 48 hours we got a phone call with an opportunity to come to Canmore. … I thought it’d be a great place to come and learn and craft the skill. I really believed at that time — and I think I told our president — that I was only going to be available for a couple years, that my goal would be moving on to the Western Hockey League within a couple of years.
“Then, you know, life changes. I have three kids now, and Canmore is just such an unbelievable place to raise a family and do everything that our family enjoys and loves doing, while getting to coach hockey at a really high level. So, it’s worked out really well for our family.”
Arneson arrived in the city just a few years after Milne took over as coach and GM of the Eagles, via a December trade from Spruce Grove. He remembers Milne, then 34, being much younger than any of the bench bosses he’d played for previously — and that the core of the coach’s philosophy looked much the same then as it does now.
“He certainly had the expectations of us to perform and play and be good in the community, be good people off the ice. And when you’re here at the rink, to treat it like a job, more or less,” Arneson remembers. “At that time, and still to this day, everyone’s here to obtain those scholarships and move on and get to the highest level possible — and hopefully, eventually, a professional contract. And that was the mindset right down from him: work hard, do things the right way, and it’ll work out more times than it doesn’t.”
While the focus during his first few years in town was solely on getting his bearings as a head coach, over time Milne reached further, playing a greater role in the organization’s business operations, and in bringing Canmore’s hockey community together as a whole.
“When I got here, there was a bit of a divide between the junior-A team and the minor hockey system. They were two different entities — one was called the Ice Cats and one was the Eagles,” Milne says. “As a young guy growing up in St. Albert with Mark Messier playing for the same team that I played for as a Timbit, I thought that was something that was extremely important to do — brand ourselves the same, so that those young kids growing up could relate to it, and eventually see that their path could lead them there.
“We were able to brand the [minor hockey] team back to the Eagles around 2010. And you know, you really saw the growth of the kids at that point. Our president tells a story that one of the kids one time told him that his dream was to play not for the Oilers or the Flames, but to play for the Canmore Eagles. I think that sort of stuff resonates strongly here.”
“Andrew was instrumental in getting that done,” says Eagles president Darryl Lockwood, a born-and-raised Canmore resident, who played a key role in helping his hometown first land a junior-A team in the ’90s. “And that has been huge for us, that we have this relationship with Canmore minor hockey. It’s something I’m extremely proud of. Kids entering into Timbits hockey, I want them to be able to shoot for that: ‘One day, I could play junior-A hockey.’ And I think with our relationship with Canmore minor hockey, the kids can truly work towards that.”
Sixteen seasons on, after too many highs and lows to count, the myriad peaks and valleys that come with keeping a hockey team afloat in a small town, Milne remains just as enamoured by the community that welcomed him with open arms nearly two decades ago. It’s difficult to feel any other way, if you’ve spent any time in the Valley.
“Everybody can see how beautiful Canmore is. It’s gorgeous. I mean, it’s magical. The backdrop, everything that you can see visually is self-explanatory. But the reality is it’s the people. I mean, the people that are here are just great people,” Milne says. “You go out in Canmore and do something, you’re doing it with an Olympian. Whether you’re cross-country skiing or you’re downhill skiing or you’re running or hiking or mountain biking, some of the best athletes in the world are living in Canmore. And some of the most unassuming athletes are in Canmore — there’s a lot of people that can accomplish a lot without the fanfare that goes with it. The people are what make Canmore such a great place.”
Adds Lockwood: “It’s the mountains — they’re so, so special. As a kid growing up, we always had this beauty. Banff was down the street and it had all the pizzazz — it has its beauty as well. But Canmore was a little bit of a different, blue-collar kind of mining town, you know? And then things changed over time. I’m grateful and fortunate to have grown up here, be here, able to live here, raise my kids and have a business here. … It’s a small town with a kind of flavour of an international city, because there’s so many different people from all over the world here now. And the people that come here and have shown up in the last 10, 15, 20 years, I think they all feel the same way — they’re grateful to be here, they feel fortunate.
“It is such a such a nice, diverse community, and that’s the part I like about Canmore so much.”
The town’s unique mix — the magnetic pull of the mountains bringing in visitors and new residents from all over the world — has impacted the hockey club directly, too.
“Canmore is full of people who have achieved great things,” Lockwood says. “Climbed Everest and mountain biked down the mountains and that kind of thing. There are all kinds of great athletes in this town and in our valley. So it is unique with our club — we’re not the be-all-end-all, per se, as maybe it would be in some other communities where they might not have all these other winter sports around them like we have. It’s unique.
“I think it helps push our club, you know? Because we’re surrounded by such great people that have achieved so much. We want to be like them. It drives us.”
With his kids now deeply rooted in Canmore’s hockey community, each playing on local squads and reffing on their off-days, it’s no surprise Milne’s decided to remain with the Eagles as long as he has — long enough to become a staple in the Valley’s hockey community. But it’s not just the town or the hockey club or even the splendor of the Rockies that’s kept him in Canmore this long. Like he says, it’s the people.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the family atmosphere that we have. I have three kids — 16, 14 and 12 — and just getting to raise them in such a great community, where there are tons of opportunities to develop in sport, I think is outstanding. A big part of that is our president. … I took a lot of mentorship from Darryl, not just in the hockey side, but also in business, in life,” Milne says. “Getting to work with Darryl daily, helping me grow not just as a coach but as a general manager, learning how the business works and seeing things through the good days and bad days. … You know, we had to figure out ways to maintain the team, and I think both Darryl and I were committed to doing that, to keeping the team in Canmore.
“I think the people of Canmore deserve a junior-A hockey club. And I think it was a lot of work that the group before me put in. And just watching guys that were passionate about the community and the sport helped me stay. … You know, even though there were some tough times in our organization, working with those guys and being able to witness how hard they were working to keep it here, it also helped me stick with it and work at it as well.”
For Lockwood, the feeling is mutual, the president just as appreciative of a bond that’s been fundamental to keeping hockey alive in the Valley.
“First and foremost, he’s a great friend,” Lockwood says of his head coach. “Somebody I admire deeply. His passion and just his commitment to the whole community — I feel very fortunate that I’ve had nearly two decades to work with Andrew. He inspires me to do better, to be better. And I hope I do the same for him, you know? And I think we do. I think we’ve worked well together. There have been some good times and there have been some really tough times. And during the tough times is the time that it takes the most work. I’m proud of everything that Andrew has achieved. I’m proud of the fact that — grateful, more than proud — that he’s been able to stay here for 16 years, see his kids and his family grow and be part of this community.
“You know, I can’t thank him enough for everything that he’s given back to the organization, and to this town.”