Hockey is truly a global sport and one player who’s gotten to experience that firsthand is former Humboldt resident Reid Gardiner.
After a minor hockey career in Humboldt, Gardiner moved up the ranks, first in the U18 AAA league with the Saskatoon Contacts, then in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Prince Albert Raiders and the Kelowna Rockets.
He began his professional career in North America in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins and Utica Comets and in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers and Kalamazoo Wings.
Over the last six seasons, Gardiner has played hockey overseas, beginning with two seasons in Germany.
He said back when the opportunity was presented to him about moving overseas to continue with his hockey career, Gardiner was excited for the new venture.
“Based at where I was at with my career at that age and just the trajectory, I kind of saw myself on.”
Gardiner added, there were two motiving factors for his decision, a new experience playing hockey and some stability.
“Met a lot of great people and but looking back, I'm really glad I made the decision at an early age to come over to Europe and play.”
With his experiences overseas, Gardiner has found the hardest transitions have occurred off the ice, with the language of hockey very similar in Europe compared to North America.
The last four seasons, the former Humboldt resident has been in Finland, in the Finnish Eilte League (known in Finland as Liiga).
He spent three seasons Jyvaskyla with JVP, including claiming the Aarne Honkavaara Trophy for leading the league in goals with 27 back in 2023, before joining the Kärpät Oulu this past offseason.
Gardiner noted the Finnish shares a lot of similarities with Canadians.
“They're pretty quiet to keep to themselves, but they're very respectful and they're very nice.”
He added the climates between the two nations are comparable.
“I find the weather here is pretty similar back home, so I feel like I'm comfortable.”
In his first campaign with the Kärpät, Gardiner has enjoyed another successful year on the scoresheet, ranking as the top Canadian in the Finnish Elite League in goals, assists and points, is currently second overall in the league in goals and third in points following the first weekend of February.
Kärpät is currently tied in 9th spot in the Finnish Elite League standings. The regular season draws to a close in mid-March.
The top four teams during the regular season advance directly into the quarterfinals while teams 5-12 face off in the first round in a best of five series, with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals.
During the holiday season, Gardiner was able to add to his credentials as Kärpät was invited to take part in the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland. Regarded as one of the most prestigious international hockey tournaments that has been ongoing since 1923.
Kärpät ended up going 1-1 in their pool, facing off against HC Fribourg-Gottéron from Switzerland and HC Dynamo Pardubice from Czech Republic. The Kärpät dropped a 6-4 contest to HC Fribourg-Gottéron and earned a 3-2 F/OT against HC Dynamo Pardubice.
In the quarterfinals, Kärpät. was eliminated following a 4-3 loss to the host HC Davos. In his three games, the 29-year-old collected three points (2G-1A).
Gardiner recalls the chance to play in the Spengler Cup as an unbelievable experience.
“The city of Davos I think doubles in size with tourists, just the whole atmosphere around the games and city was just incredible to be a part of. Every game was sold out.”
He noted the tournament was extra special having his wife, Noel, along with his parents in attendance. Even though the event wrapped up a few weeks ago, Gardiner finds himself looking through pictures and reliving the memories of the tournament.
Out of the six-team tournament, Kärpät didn’t cross paths with Team Canada, who ended up losing in the semi-finals. Gardiner said even though he didn’t face his home country, the thought was running in his mind leading up to the Spengler Cup and was a point of discussion with his fellow Canadian teammate in Oulu, Ben Tardif.
“We were saying that we might have a little bit extra jump in our step to play against them.”
He may be spending most of his time overseas playing hockey, Gardiner enjoys the opportunity of venturing to other countries in Europe. He noted that two of his favourite destinations so far, have been Barcelona, Spain and Milan, Italy.
As Gardiner continues to pile up the kilometers on the road, so do his stats on the scoresheet. With each game, the journey becomes more than travel, it’s a testament for his love of the game.
You can listen to the interview with Gardiner & Bolt FM's Blaine Weyland below.