CALGARY, Alberta — The sun dips beneath a snow-peaked horizon beyond where the building sits, tucked away on the wooded hillside of a quiet and well-kept neighborhood.
Kids carry large gear bags through a parking lot toward the sprawling two-rink facility on this chilled November weeknight as a soft orange glow illuminates a white banner above the entryway, with three words in red capitalized letters: CROWCHILD TWIN ARENA.
Welcome to the home of Cale Makar’s hockey education.
It’s where the meteoric rise of a 21-year-old Colorado Avalanche sensation began. How the early frontrunner for NHL Rookie of the Year developed into an every-tool defenseman, a magician with the puck, and pure lightning on the ice.