Kindree finds a home in his last WHL season

By Dale Woodard on March 12, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDsports@lethbridgeherald.com

Liam Kindree’s phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, not even the area code.

He did, however, see the city that popped up on his viewfinder.

Upon taking the call, however, the 21-year-forward — three days removed from being waived by the Kelowna Rockets, the team he spent his entire Western Hockey League career with — got his answer as to who the phantom caller was.

It was Lethbridge Hurricanes general manager Peter Anholt, giving Kindree — who hails from North Vancouver — a place to play in his overage year after four years with Rockets, claiming Kindree off waivers last week.

“I saw ‘Lethbridge’ pop up on my phone, I didn’t even know what the area code was,” said Kindree. “It popped up and I thought ‘Who could this possibly be?’ All of a sudden, you hear Peter Anholt. I was actually driving home from the gym and my heart dropped. I didn’t know what to say and I just kind of heard him out. The first thing that came out of my mouth was ‘thank you.’ To be able to have an opportunity like this, a lot of great 20-year-olds are missing out on playing their last years in the Western Hockey League and it’s unfortunate just because of the circumstances. But I can’t thank Peter enough. He’s given me the opportunity to be here and I hope to show the city of Lethbridge and the organization that they made the right decision.”

After a COVID-19 ravaged year that iced the last part of the 2019-20 WHL season as well as the majority of this season, Kindree will now get to play his first games in a year in a three-game weekend series against the Red Deer Rebels, starting tonight in Red Deer, coming back to the Enmax Centre Saturday night at 6 p.m. and wrapping up back in Red Deer Sunday

“It’s been a tough year for a lot of people,” said Kindree. “I think everybody has suffered some sort of mental or physical pain from COVID. I was pretty down in the dumps. I had been waived three days before, (but) I can’t thank Kelowna enough for everything they’ve done for me as a hockey player.”

The five-foot-10 forward has played 143 career games with the Rockets, posting 23 goals and 78 points.

That included a career-high 34 points in 2018-19.

Kindree now looks to build on those totals with the Hurricanes.

Of course, he had to wait a week to join his new teammates, undergoing COVID protocol and quarantining before getting his first on-ice session in Lethbridge Thursday morning.

“I think for myself to be able to come somewhere new and make a first impression, I’m really hoping to do that, but its been good,” said Kindree. “This is my first day with the team, but the past four days I’ve been in the apartment I’ve felt like I’ve been a part of the team, whether they incorporated me into a group chat or a video game. I’m really looking forward to this group of guys and getting to know them a lot better.”

The newest Hurricane said he’ll bring speed to the team.

“You’ll see me moving my feet a lot on the ice and trying to create opportunities and make plays,” he said.

“I’m a pass-first kind of guy, but if I do have the opportunity to shoot the puck I definitely won’t pass up on that. I’m somebody who can bring leadership to this group.”

Obviously, I’ve been in the league for four years and I’ve hard my fair share of teaching and developing through older players. I’m really looking forward to being relied on as that guy this year.”

The Canes will need that as they look to get into the win column following 7-1 and 7-2 losses to the Edmonton Oil Kings in the opening weekend.

On Thursday in practice, Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio got his first glimpse of the new acquisition.

“I think he’ll add to our leadership, for sure,” said Kisio. “He looks good for just being on the ice out of quarantine. He looks excited and when you talk to him he’s excited. I think he’s going to add a lot of leadership and the excitement we need to our group right. We’ll work him in this weekend and we’ll see how it goes.”

After getting picked up by the Canes off the waiver wire last week, Kindree studied up on his new team.

“It’s a bit of a younger group. So the first impression in the dressing room, you see a lot of, I guess you could say, baby faces — sorry boys,” he said with a chuckle. “But I think there’s a lot of skill, though. There’s a lot of skill and a lot of heart. I’ve played against a lot of these guys and meeting these guys for the first time, but I can defintely tell there is some skill and some heart. Guys want to win and I think as long as we can keep that in the back of our heads while me make the push through these next 22 games, I think we should be a pretty successful hockey team.”

Kindree joins an overage group that also includes captain and forward Dino Kambeitz and defenceman Mitch Prowse, both of whom Kindree played against when that due was with the Victoria Royals.

“I know Mitch really well,” said Kindree. “I trained with him (last) summer in Kelowna. I got to know him really well and when I got the call from Peter he was the first guy I reached out to. Me and Mitch have a great standing relationship. We’ve battled against each other, but last summer we were able to establish a friendship and and bond. I never would have thought we would become teammates, but here we are. I’m glad we did that.”

After Anholt called Kindree last week to deliver the news, Kambeitz was next in line to place a call.

“He was probably 15 minutes right after and he called and said they were super-excited to have me,” said Kindree. “When you get a feeling like that from the other 20-year-olds it’s a pretty welcoming and warming feeling. You feel a sense of comfort within the group and I couldn’t pick a better group of 20-year-olds to be with. They’re both great guys and leaders and I can’t wait to go into battle with them.”

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