By ELAINE MARTIN  Special for The Citizen, Preston, ID

Darrell Swigert’s Idaho Junior Steelheads, Tier III, Junior  A Hockey Team has won the Western States Hockey League (WSHL) Division and League championships in their second season.  

Raised in Preston, Idaho, he then lived 30 years in Colorado, where he was known as a sports enthusiast. While working for Trailways, Greyhound and several trucking companies, all of his free time was spent mountain climbing, sailing, kayaking, baseball, etc. He moved to Idaho in 1998 where he had purchased an interest in MarCon Inc., a construction company, and he could start playing hockey again after 35 years off the ice. 

Swigert formed the non-profit Swigert Foundation in 2002 to provide hockey skating scholarships for talented or needy skaters. Asked to purchase a team several years ago, Swigert said no. Only when former ECHL coach, John Olver, asked him to help form the new Jr A team did Swigert say yes.   He has only missed one game this season when he was out of the country.    He actually travels to many of the games on the team bus rather than fly because he enjoys his time with the players. 

This Tier III League prepares the 17-20 year old players for Division 3 college hockey programs and professional hockey consideration. At the end of the team’s first season, seven players were drafted into college programs and three moved into a higher hockey league. This year’s players are already talking with college scouts and discussing scholarship potential for the coming school year.   

The Idaho Junior Steelheads, Tier III, Jr A team defeated the Phoenix Polar bears in two games to win the WSHL Western Division  Championship 10 days ago. This weekend they defeated  WSHL Mid-Western Division Champions, El Paso Rhinos, in two games to win the League Championship and the Thorne Cup. The Idaho team leaves for Rochester, MN next week to the National Tier III, Junior A completion with a 25 man roster.   The team completed its regular season with 45 wins, 5 loses and 2 over-time loses. 

The Phoenix Polar Bears won the Thorne Cup in 2008 and 2010 and this is the first year since 2002 that they will not be representing the Western Division at Nationals. El Paso won the Thorne Cup in 2009 and has won the Mid-Western Division the past four seasons.