This is the second in a series of articles about the athletes, coaches, and builders who make up the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. The induction ceremony will be held at the Ches Leach Lounge on May 2. The first article about track star Katelyn Lehner ran in the April 18 edition of the Daily Herald. Please see future editions for articles on the rest of the induction class.
It was a full circle moment for Tim Leonard.
As one of the honours for being named to the 2026 class for the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame, Leonard and the other inductees were introduced to a crowd of 2,463 spectators at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre before a Prince Albert Raiders contest on Feb. 6.
The Raiders hosted the Lethbridge Hurricanes on that night, and it hit Leonard that he coached the head coaches of both teams.
“It is crazy,” said Leonard, who is going into the Hall as a builder. “When they brought us out on the ice at the Raider game to introduce everybody that is going in this year, I get out on the ice, and look across at the benches, and there is Ryan McDonald.
“On the other bench where Lethbridge is Matty Anholt, and I coached them both. It was fitting, and it was a great feeling.”
Way back at the start of the 2002-03 campaign, Leonard joined the Prince Albert Mintos Under-18 AAA Team as an assistant coach. He was working on a staff led by head coach Ron Bonneau. One of their first decisions was to offer a roster spot to McDonald, who was an underage 14-year-old centre that came out to Mintos camp just to get some extra skating work.
McDonald played his 14-year-old and 15-year-old campaigns with the Mintos before moving on to play five seasons in the WHL with the Regina Pats and the Raiders from 2004 to 2009. The feisty forward also suited up for four seasons in the U Sports ranks first with the Lakehead University Thunderwolves Men’s Hockey Team and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Hockey team. He now serves as the head coach of the Raiders.
When Leonard served as the Mintos head coach, Anholt was one of his players. Anholt played one game for the Mintos in the 2009-10 campaign and two full seasons with the squad from 2010 to 2012.
He moved on to play two seasons of junior A in the BCHL with the West Kelowna Warriors and four seasons in the NCAA Division I ranks with the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves Men’s Hockey Team. Anholt now serves as head coach of the Hurricanes.
Actually, Leonard crosses paths with his former players on a daily basis, when he is just out and about taking part in day-to-day life. Every encounter is always a warm get together whether a brief “hello” or a longer coffee visit.
“It is an awesome feeling,” said Leonard. “I got to coach them when they were younger, especially the guys from years ago on the Telus Cup teams.
“Now, I run into them, and they’ve got their kids, and they’re always the first to come over and say hello and usually have a hug. Just to see them and what they’ve turned into, whether some of them like the Mansons or Tokarskis that played pro or the guys that are around here, and now, they’re journeymen electricians or running a business. It is just neat to see them now, and like I said, it is always a rewarding experience when your past players have moved on to something special.”
The Manson that Leonard mentioned is Josh Manson, who is a defenceman for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. Manson played two seasons for the Mintos from 2007 to 2009.
The Tokarski is netminder Dustin Tokarski, who played a number of seasons in the NHL and is finishing this season playing for HK Olimpija Ljubljana in the ICEHL in Slovenia. Tokarski was the Mintos star netminder from 2004 to 2006 and backstopped the squad to their first Telus Cup win as national champions in 2006.
Leonard’s start in coaching came way back in 1987 with the Kinistino Tigers program with Les Jack and Carl Van Camp. At the time, Leonard was just looking to give back to the game.
“I was from Kinistino, so I was involved with the Tigers lots,” said Leonard. “I started coaching there a little bit with Les Jack, but then work got in the way.
“We shift worked at the mill. I got a day job out at the mill. It was something that I was done playing.
“I played senior in Birch Hills for a long time and won a provincial championship out there. When we were all done that, it was like I’d like to coach. They asked about the Pirates, and that was kind of my first step.”
Leonard was the head coach of the Venice House Pirates Under-15 squad from 1999 to 2002. He proceeded to serve as a Mintos assistant coach from 2002 until taking on the head coach role early in the 2004-05 campaign, which he held until the end of the 2011-12 season.
As the Mintos head coach, Leonard guided the squads to SMAAAHL, Western Regional and Telus Cup titles in back-to-back years in 2006 and 2007. Those Mintos teams were inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Leonard guided the Mintos to another SMAAAHL championship in the 2010-11 campaign. He served as a Raiders assistant coach from 2012 to 2014 and left the Raiders early in the 2014-15 season to become the Mintos head coach again. He served as Mintos head coach through to February 2016 and was again the Mintos head coach for three seasons from 2021-24.
For a moment, it seemed like that final Mintos stint was Leonard’s farewell to coaching, but he ended up back behind the bench this past season.
“I just loved doing it, and to this day, I’m helping out with the Junior B (Prince Albert) Timberjaks,” said Leonard. “Once you’ve been around a team, it is a big part of your life.
“That is what is the best part about it is being with the kids at practices and games and stuff. It turns into a big family is what it does.”
Of course, the biggest highlight of Leonard’s coaching career was the back-to-back Telus Cup wins with the Mintos. He said he really enjoys reflecting on those days now looking back on them, but at the time was too locked into the job to enjoy the success like he should have.
“I didn’t really sit back and think about what we had accomplished,” Leonard said.
“Now when you look back, it is like, wow, that was something pretty cool. In the second year, we lost two guys at Christmas time to Chilliwack (then in the WHL) there, so that kind of changed things too. We managed to fill those spots and went on.
“We went through two regionals and two Telus Cups without losing a game. Now looking back, it was pretty awesome. At the time, probably I was too focused on maybe the next year type thing, but yeah, it was something pretty special.”
Leonard also built some great memories from his time as a Raiders assistant coach. He got an appreciation for how much higher the level of play was in the WHL compared to under-18 AAA.
“People don’t realize how good those kids (in the WHL) are,” said Leonard. “I found out in a hurry.
“It is a big jump from AAA U18 to the Western Hockey League. It took me a little bit to get used to it. When you’re working with guys like Leon (Draisaitl) and (Josh) Morrissey and some of those guys, I look back again now, and it is like, wow.
“I used to work with Leon on receiving passes in his skates. We used to do it for 10 minutes after every practice. Now you see him in the NHL and what he is doing and it is like, wow.”
Leonard still keeps in touch with Draisaitl and Morrissey to this day and hopes he helped play a small part in the success they have had. With all the players he has coached, Leonard hopes they take two characteristics with them into the rest of their lives.
“I think our mantra there was the hard work and discipline,” said Leonard. “We made sure that was accomplished on the ice and off the ice.
“When they did leave our program, we had developed them into the best version of themselves that we could and prepared them to move on not just in hockey but life. I think that is what is enjoyable. I see these guys that played years ago, and they all are doing extremely well.
“We knew they would. Those were the type of kids we had.”
Leonard said it is an honour to go into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame and to be recognized as a builder in the sport of hockey in the centre that is nicknamed “Hockey Town North.” He is also pumped the Mintos 2013-14 Telus Cup winning squad guided by Ken Morrison as head coach is going into the Hall too. Overall, Leonard believes he is going with a pretty cool class of athletes, builders and contributors to sport in Prince Albert.
“It is pretty impressive,” said Leonard, when he reflects on the 2026 Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame class. “When you’re tied up in hockey, you’re not really up on other sports so to speak.
“Just to hear the letters that were read about these people that are going in, it was like, wow, there are some special people going in.”
The 34th Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet is scheduled for Saturday, May 2 at the Ches Leach Lounge at 7 p.m. For tickets, contact Jody Boulet at pashof@citypa.com.
Darren Steinke is a Saskatoon-based freelance sportswriter and photographer. He blogs frequently at stankssermon.blogspot.com.
