Q And A With A Former Native - Talking With Fighting Sioux Brent Davidson
June 23, 2010
Former Neepawa Native and current UND Fighting Sioux Brent Davidson celebrates a WCHA Tournament victory over Colorado College with Bradley Eidsness. Brent earned a scholarship to UND while playing in Neepawa. Neepawanatives.com is pleased to present a new edition of Q And A With A Former Native. This version is entitled Talking With Fighting Sioux Brent Davidson. Brent is entering his senior year at UND and took time out of his schedule to reconnect with the fans in Neepawa.
Q - How are things in North Dakota?
BD - "Things are great here at North Dakota. We are right in the middle of an intense off season training program and have a bright future with the talent we are bringing
in next year as well as the key returning players."
Q - What is it like being a part of the Fighting Sioux?
BD - "It is an amazing feeling. I can’t say enough on how privilleged I am to be able to throw on a Sioux jersey and skate in one of the most magnificent arenas in the USA. It is a real family atmosphere down here for the full 12 months of the year."
Q - How does the ongoing logo drama affect you? (NCAA making Sioux change name and logo).
BD - "Unfortunately things don’t look too great for the nickname but I try and not let it affect my off season. We are able to wear the Sioux logo next year which will be something special for our team as I believe we have the making of a national championship team, and if it is the last year I would sure like to go out on a good note knowing that we retired the name with a banner to hang."
Q - Do You Still Follow The Natives?
BD - "I do and I think it was great to see the turnaround. I still follow the MJHL closely having chats with my family about the players in the league and certain teams. With any turn around it starts with the coaching staff and it seems like the head coach is finding the right pieces to the puzzle. Now he and his staff just need to keep building on the previous year and don’t look back."
Q - How are your academics?
BD - "My academics are good to my standards (laughs). I think I am about a 3.2 or 3.3 GPA over 3 years."
Q - You have won some awards and honors down there. Can you tell us about them?
BD - "In my freshman year I won the most improved player which meant a lot to me. I knew coming into this elite program it wasn’t going to be easy to crack the line up and to this day it still isn’t. I know I am not the most skilled player on the team but being the hardest worker and a leader is something I can control and I achieve. I make sure that I try and push the limits in the gym and work as hard as I can on the ice to become a better player. We also won the McNaughton Cup my sophomore year as regular season champions as well last year (junior year) winning the Broadmoar Championship after player 6 games in 9 nights. It may not seem like much but for a college schedule is a lot."
Q - What did the MJHL mean to you?
BD - "The MJHL means a lot to me. It was a huge stepping stone to further my hockey career and education. I will be leaving UND with a degree in Entrepreneurship and have memories that will last a life time."
Q - What are you doing for the summer?
BD - "My summer plan is pretty simple. Workout, work, golf and repeat (laughs). I haven’t started skating yet for the upcoming season just because we skate so much during the regular season and in August and September that I am not too worried about it right now. I am trying to enjoy my summer and have fun with it this year."
Q - What is the future looking like for you?
BD -" I am taking it one day at a time. That is probably the most common question that I get asked but I don’t have an answer for it. I need to see how my senior year goes and then make a decision after that. The dream is still there to go and further my career at hockey so if there is any opportunity I will be making sure to take it and try my best."
Q - Anything for the people of Neepawa or the players?
BD - "To the people of Neepawa I want to say thank you very much. Without your support I would not be at a school I dreamed about when I was playing for the Natives. Everyone has so much support around the town it is unbelievable and I hope that continues into next year. As for the players never give up, I remember the year I got traded there and we didn’t have a great team, but we had a lot of returners for my final year in the MJHL. We had a good team and had a chance to do something around the league. Just a bounce or two going our way and we would have made it to the championship. Best of luck in the upcoming season and when I make it back to Neepawa, I hope to see all the friendly faces around the rink that I used to those 3 or 4 years ago."
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