Scott Moe is a conservative premier who began life as a left-winger with a shot so hard, it was lights out — literally.
On a recent fall day, Moe stands among the seats at his hometown rink in Shellbrook, north of Saskatoon, and points to the spot on the ice where he was knocked out cold.
He was six years old at the time, his first year in hockey. He slid into the net, injured himself and hasn’t been the same since.
“I still have a shoulder that doesn’t lift up,” Moe, 51, said in an interview.
His game is now politics. And on Monday night, he won his second public mandate as premier, leading the Saskatchewan Party to its fifth straight majority government.
But long before politics, there was hockey.
Moe grew up loving the sport, labelling himself an average player, who began on the left wing but got moved to defence. He won a provincial title in his teens.
He wasn’t quick, but he could fire the puck, a skill forged through hours of blasting away in his family’s unfinished basement.
He used electrical outlets as targets and quickly learned what happens when those targets break.
“All the lights go out in the house,” Moe said. “It was a learning experience for my father. And we very quickly agreed on getting a net.”
It was the game, but also the camaraderie.
“What I love most about it was the team and everybody finds their spot on it, the competition of it and working together to succeed,” he said.
Trevor Miller, who grew up with Moe in Shellbrook, said sports shaped his friend and helped him achieve success.
“I think he does it in a way that’s best for everybody,” Miller said.
At the rink, Miller said, Moe was the team’s glue.
“I wasn’t the guy that was on the power play lots, but Scott would always be there and tell you, ‘You’re part of this team,’” he said.
Moe grew up the oldest of five in a community-minded farm family. He began his work life selling agriculture equipment and owning gas stations. He and his wife Krista also co-owned a pharmacy.
They married in the early 1990s and attended the University of Saskatchewan. He received a degree in agriculture, and she in pharmacy. They have two children: Carter and Taryn.
Before he was 30, Moe made a life-altering mistake.
In 1997, he crashed his car into another after not stopping at a highway intersection, killing Jo-Anne Balog. Balog’s teen son survived the crash, and Moe apologized to him four years ago.
Amund Otterson, the mayor of Shellbrook, recalled Moe getting emotional at a news conference to announce the completion of a twinning project for the highway between Shellbrook and Prince Albert. A child and a man had been killed in a car crash there.