Derek Hulak

Derek Hulak has only been with the University of Saskatchewan men’s hockey team for a season and a half, but he has already made a huge impact.

After a 21-game stint with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League in 2010, Hulak joined the Dogs in January 2011 and played in 11 games, tallying two goals and four assists. While these numbers were respectable they did not foreshadow what Hulak accomplished in the 2011-12 season.

In his first full season with the club last year, Hulak racked up 11 goals and 33 assists, earning him the Dave “Sweeney” Schriner Trophy as the leading point producer in the Canada West conference.

Hulak has experience playing in semi-professional leagues too. The forward played in the Western Hockey League for the Regina Pats from 2005-07 before being traded to the Saskatoon Blades, where he played until 2010.

Throughout his hockey career, Hulak has managed to stay on Saskatchewan teams that are close to his family in Saskatoon. Hulak is proud of growing up in Saskatoon and says he enjoys playing here because his family can come out to games to support him.

“Being a home-grown kid from Saskatoon I grew up watching the Blades, and then the Huskies when my brother joined the team. Now being able to play on the teams I grew up idolizing gives me perspective on what those kids, who are watching me now, think,” Hulak said.

“It’s nice to be able to pay it forward to those kids because I have a lot of younger cousins and people that I know who look up to me.”

Derek’s older brother Dan Hulak played with the Huskies from 2002-05 and was Derek’s mentor growing up.

“My brother was my inspiration. He is nine years older than me and when I was growing up I wanted to do everything he was doing,” Hulak said of his brother Dan, who played three seasons with the Swift Current Broncos and one with the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL before finding his way to the Huskies.

The 23-year-old Hulak is in his third year of business and, unlike many athletes, balances five classes with his demanding athletic schedule.

“It definitely takes a little bit of getting used to and you have to be disciplined with five classes, practices everyday, and games Friday and Saturday. It certainly isn’t a bad thing, but you need to stay focused and working hard.”

In the limited free time that Hulak gets, he enjoys watching football. Hulak has even joined an NFL fantasy football league with his brother and some of the Huskie alumni players and enjoys razzing the guys when their fantasy team has a bad week.

In Hulak’s breakout season last year the Huskies won the Canada West championship in a thrilling series against the Calgary Dinos that ended in a game three victory for the Huskies in triple overtime. Hulak says winning that game was his favourite moment as a Huskie.

“We won a league championship in our own house, and I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Hulak said.

“It was a lot of fun and the atmosphere was amazing, I don’t think they could have fit another person in Rutherford [rink] that night.”

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Photo: Cole Guenter/The Sheaf