Couture holds strong roots to Kraft Hockeyville Canada host

SAN JOSE -- It's been nearly two decades since Logan Couture played for the Lucan Irish, a minor hockey team in a small southwestern Ontario town, but his memories of the Lucan Community Memorial Centre rink he called home for seven years and the community where his hockey career began are still vivid.

"Those memories are my best memories of playing hockey," said Couture, a center for the San Jose Sharks. "Just the fun. The coaches I got to play for were great people. I had so much fun coming to the rink every day, and that's where I think my love for the game of hockey really started, was Lucan. You're such a small town you have the underdog mentality every time you play in tournaments and stuff like that. The coaches kind of instilled that in us, just to go out and prove people wrong."
Lucan, thanks in part to Couture's Twitter campaign, won a nationwide, on-line vote in March to host Kraft Hockeyville Canada 2018. Lucan will receive $250,000 from the NHL and Kraft Heinz for improvements to its arena, and $10,000 for hockey equipment from the NHL Players' Association.

The Lucan Community Memorial Centre will also host
a preseason game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators
on Sept. 18. Among the events leading up to the game are the Kraft Hockeyville community festival, a 'chalk talk' with retired NHL player Bryan Smolinski discussing the Declaration of Principles and appearances by the Stanley Cup.
"For them to go to communities like this is a brilliant idea," Couture said. "I think it grows our game. If you grow up in a small town you almost feel like you're forgotten about. This type of program really brings belief that anything can happen. Even if you're from a small town you never know. You could grow up and play in the NHL. If you get an NHL game in your city, in your town, you're very, very proud, and you can feel the excitement there."
Couture was born in Guelph, Ontario on March 28, 1989, but spent most of his childhood in Birr, a small town less than six miles south of Lucan. He began skating at the Lucan rink at the age of 5.
"I remember just walking into that rink and the feel and the sounds and everything going to watch junior D games back when I was growing up, thinking those guys were the best players in the world," Couture said. "And running around with my friends at those games. Winning some tournament championships. We were I think a DD center, and we beat some A centers, which is a major accomplishment back in the minor hockey days."
Couture helped the Irish to multiple championships and put himself on the hockey map in Ontario. In 2002 he moved to London, Ontario, and played three seasons with the AAA London Junior Knights. The Ottawa 67's selected him with the No. 12 pick in the 2005 Ontario Hockey League Draft. Two years later, Couture was chosen No. 9 by the Sharks in the 2007 NHL Draft.
Couture returned to Lucan in 2012 to host a charity hockey game and have his No. 77 Irish jersey retired.
"It was a special moment," Couture said. "I was happy to be able to give back. We were able to get brand new jerseys for every minor hockey team there. Now we're going to be able to get some equipment for kids that can't afford equipment. So really, really happy to give back to Lucan minor hockey."
Couture announced a $10,000 donation from the NHLPA Goals & Dreams program during an event at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre on July 24. He signed autographs for a host of young hockey players.

"Just the feel of how proud the community is to win this and how excited all the kids were, that was my big takeaway," Couture said. "Just the excitement in the kids' faces and being around them, for them to be able to say that an NHL player played in their city and grew up in the same spot that they're growing up in. You could tell it means a lot to those kids. It was special for me to go back and see that."
The Sharks open training camp Friday, so Couture won't be able to take part in the Hockeyville festivities leading up to the preseason game in Lucan.
"Everyone always says to me, 'I wish the Sharks were playing,' but it's just not realistic with travel and the schedule we have," Couture said. "We would have loved to go back there. I'm just excited for the kids to go to an NHL game in their arena, the same ice that they skate on. They're going to be thrilled."