It’s been an impressive three years for Estevan’s Kyle Salaway, just across the Manitoba border playing for the Virden Oil Capitals of the MJHL. He’s now parlayed that time into a college commitment with Red Deer College.

“I’m pretty excited,” Salaway said. “It’s something I wanted to do, be a student athlete, go to school, further my education and play hockey at the same time. I’m excited to get started at Red Deer.”

Salaway wrapped up his junior career with a 31-goal campaign and a trip to the MJHL final, where his Oil Caps fell to the Steinbach Pistons. His recent commitment takes some of the sting out.

“I’ll never forget being that close and not being able to finish it off,” he said. “It was tough, but I’m looking forward now and ready to take the next step in my life.”

Despite the tough ending, you wont’ catch Salaway feeling down about his time in Virden. In fact, he’ll miss playing for the franchise just two hours down the road from his home town.

“It was fantastic,” he said of his time in Virden. “It was an amazing three years. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the organization out there. The time I spent there was awesome, I met so many amazing people and made so many memories. It’s a part of my life I’ll remember forever.”

Off the ice, Salaway hopes to study electrical or instrumentation engineering. Red Deer’s program in these fields was a major draw for him, even though he had other options.

“The courses they offered were things I was looking into,” Salaway said. “Not many other schools have that and I wanted to study something that I was interested in. Staying in Canada and living in Red Deer, it’s going to be awesome. All that stuff combined kind of made the decision easy for me.”

If Salaway was still on the fence at all, a word in his ear from Bienfait native and former Estevan Bruin Lynnden Pastachak erased any doubts. The ex-Bruin, who played for the black and gold for four full seasons, spent last year with Red Deer College, amassing 30 points in 27 games. His glowing review of Red Deer pushed Salaway further in that direction.

“I talked to Lynnden a couple of weeks back and he said he loved it,” said Salaway. “He said everything about Red Deer was awesome. It made my decision a lot easier.”

Salaway is spending the summer in Estevan before heading to Red Deer for the start of the 2018-19 season. He ends his junior career with 177 games played, in which he totaled 55 goals and 120 points.