One of the Saskatoon Blades’ most prominent Alumni is back, but this time, he won’t need a hockey stick.

NHL hockey legend and former Blades captain, Bernie Federko was the first Blade to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and on Tuesday morning, he was named the volunteer ambassador for the 2013 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

“It’s always exciting to be coming back here, this is still home for me,” said Federko.
“I’ve always been involved—even though I haven’t been here for 36-years—but I spent three years with the Blades with great success—and really I learned the tricks of the trade by playing for the Blades.”

“I owe everything I do have to Hockey and the Saskatoon Blades—It was my start,” he said.

Jonathan Huntington, community investment manager with Cameco and a member of the Memorial Cup volunteer committee said Federko was an obvious choice.

“Having Bernie as part of the MasterCard Memorial Cup is going to be outstanding, because he’s one of the greatest Blades of all time,” said Huntington. “He was a name that instantly came to mind and he was so gracious to help.”

“It’s absolutely true when he said it was an easy conversation,” he said.

Federko is now responsible for recruiting 600 volunteers for the MasterCard Memorial Cup, running in Saskatoon from May 16 – 26.