Family business │ Wild's Littler charts his own path, while enjoying the moment

Bliss Littler, at the time the head coach of the Omaha Racers of the United States Hockey League, took a while to catch on.

“He’d hide behind the captain so I couldn’t see him,” said Bliss.

It was the beginning of a life-long love affair between young Cade and the sport of hockey, and it still blossoms today.

In fact, hockey has loved Cade back.

As a center for the Wenatchee Wild, member of the British Columbia Hockey League, Cade Littler has a bright future in the sport.

Last summer, he was selected in the seventh round (26th pick of that round, 219 overall) by the Calgary Flames in the NHL Draft in Montreal.

If that isn’t enough, in January of this year, Cade also signed with NCAA Division I hockey power Minnesota State University-Mankato.

And yet, there is a third option for the 6-foot-3, 212-pound right-handed shooter. He could come back for one more season of BCHL hockey with Wenatchee.

It’s not a bad option.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience to play at home,” said Cade, whose family has lived in the Wenatchee area for the last 11 years. “There are a ton of benefits to playing in your hometown. Sleep in your own bed. Eat your mom’s cooking. Play in front of your friends.”

But as both Bliss Littler (now the Wild’s general manager) and Wild head coach Chris Clark both say, Cade needs a little longer runway (before he plays in the National Hockey League).

“When the BCHL season is done, his advisor will talk with him, they’ll talk with Minnesota State University Mankato, and talk with Calgary,” said Bliss.

Cade doesn’t know what will happen next.

“I’ll find out at the end of the season what would be the best path for me,” he said. “Originally, it was going to be play another season here. But we’ll see.”

Whatever choice is made then, one thing is for sure: Cade will be playing hockey somewhere.

Growing up in a hockey family

Bliss Littler has been a head coach in junior hockey for decades. And as part of the drill, he would take his wife, Gretchen, son Cade and daughter Grace with him wherever the next head coaching job was.

It was a map of the Midwest: 7 seasons starting in 1993-94 with the Billings Bulls in Montana in the American Frontier Hockey League, and then the America West Hockey League.

Then it was 11 more seasons in the United States Hockey League, with stops with the Topeka Scarecrows (2001-03), the Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Neb. (2003-08), and then to the Omaha Lancers (2008-12).

In 2012, the Littler family moved to Wenatchee, where the Wild franchise would play in the North American Hockey League. In 2015, the franchise shifted over to the BCHL, where it’s been ever since.

Bliss stepped down as head coach for the 2020-21 season to solely concentrate on his general manager duties. Clark, a long-time assistant coach since the Wild franchise first started up in 2008, was named head coach at that time.

And Cade? Cade has grown up around the game. He knows where the ice is. And one day at home in East Wenatchee, he made a decision.

“He’s known he’s wanted to be a hockey player since he was 12,” said Bliss. “He asked me then what he needed to do to become better. I told him ‘You need to improve your skating.’ He didn’t like that and walked away.”

But then he came back. And he was ready to work.

“I played baseball up until I was 13-14,” said Cade. “At the time, I was better with baseball. But I had fun when I played hockey. It was definitely more fun for me.”

He liked winning at the game.

“Just being on the ice, it was a faster pace. And I’d be at the rink all of the time,” he said. “Baseball is slow-w-w-w-w.”

Playing in the BCHL

This is Cade Littler’s second full season with the Wild.

Last season, in 50 games, he scored 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points.

This season, through 23 games as of Dec. 3, he’s scored 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points.

His game has rapidly improved — although you wouldn’t know it by talking to him.

“I think I’ve had an OK year, but not a great year,” he said. “It’s all about team success. If that happens, you usually have individual success.”

The Wild was expected to do well this season. But a loss of a few experienced defensemen before the season began had them struggling out of the gate.

Through last weekend, the team is 9-13-0-2 for 20 points. That sets them in eighth place out of nine teams in the Interior Conference.

That slow start hasn’t stopped Cade from impressing hockey people.

“I think he’s an impact player at both ends of the ice,” said Clark. “He does everything right. I’ve known him forever. At one point I was taller than him. He’s got a great hockey IQ.”

Clark adds that Cade anticipates the game better than everyone around him.

“He reads the game very well.”

Cade knows he has plenty of work ahead of him.

“I think my hockey sense is one strength of my game,” he said. “I should be one of the biggest guys on the ice. I need to use my body more.

“And I need to keep working on my skating, get my feet going. Those first three steps. They need to be explosive.”

Skating is not fun to work on. It can be the dregs of workouts.

“It’s not like shooting pucks,” he said. “It’s not like working on hands. Skating is one of the most important things to work on. In a hockey game, you may just handle the puck no more than a minute total. What do you do the other 15 to 20 minutes you’re out on the ice? So when you skate, you try to get that separation from the defense. You do it by working on it in practice, because you can’t really do it in a game.”

Pros and colleges

Last January, Cade committed to Minnesota State Mankato.

It’s a path that many of the BCHL’s players take, some of them eventually landing in the NHL.

“The BCHL is a different path,” said Bliss. “A lot of our players move on to colleges to play. We average 16 Division 1 scholarships. That’s 16 of our 23 kids. And there are 180 kids with D-1 scholarships in our league.”

So Cade’s college career was set.

But then the NHL came calling, and the Calgary Flames amateur scouts constantly visited the Town Toyota Center last season.

And when June came around for the NHL draft, Cade was glued to the television on the first day, watching the entire first round.

Bliss decided that he would take Cade, Clark and another friend out to Desert Canyon Golf Course for a round the next day, trying to get Cade’s mind off of the draft. But it was a day he’ll always remember, for more than one reason.

“I didn’t have a good golf day all the way around,” Cade said. “I hit the ball into the trees on No. 13. I went in to get it. There had to be 30 to 40 balls in there. About $50 worth. I’m in there throwing them out.”

But he was rubbing up against something, and it started to make him itch.

He came out of the trees and went over to Bliss to show him a rash.

“Is this poison ivy?” he asked his dad.

Bliss took a picture of it as they waited for the group ahead of them to clear the 14th green. He sent it to the team doctor, who confirmed that, why, yes it was poison ivy.

“Then my cell phone just started blowing up,” said Bliss.

That’s when they found out Cade had been drafted by Calgary.

“All four of us were jumping around at the next hole,” said Bliss. “It was a fun day. And it was cool that I got to spend it with Cade. I’ve spent 32 years in hockey as a coach and general manager. I’ve had 40 kids drafted. It’s pretty cool to see your boy go through it. You’re proud of all the sacrifices he made.”

Cade said he had only one good golf shot all day, and that was his tee shot on 14.

“It didn’t set in until later that night,” said Cade.

Calgary likes what it’s seen of the 18-year-old.

Rob Sumner is an amateur scout for the Flames based out of Seattle. He was the guy really pushing to draft Cade.

“Cade is a big center with a strong hockey sense and a good skill level,” said Sumner. “He is a coach’s son who has grown up around the game, and you can see the benefits that come from that with his work ethic and commitment level. He is going to Minnesota State and will have a great opportunity to add power to his skating, and build his overall game.

Now here’s the deal: Because Cade is likely to end up at MSU Mankato in the next few years — taking the college route — Calgary owns his NHL rights through the end of his junior year of college.

And that’s fine with him.

“For me, it’s going to be the marathon way to the NHL,” he said. “But I still have to grow into my body, my legs especially.”

So he’s set a timeline goal.

“Hopefully, when I’m 23, I’ll have a chance to be in Calgary, or at least have a contract with them,” he said.

The Wild plan

Since that draft day, Cade has stepped up his workouts with intensity.

He does a daily workout plan Calgary has given him, just 25 to 30 minutes.

He graduated from Eastmont High School last June, doing the majority of his school work online.

So it’s been hockey, all day, from 9 to 5 since then.

It’s a busy schedule too. Here’s his most recent Monday:

“Monday’s a 10:30 am team workout. I get my other workout in before then,” he said. “Go home for lunch, where I’ll spend 20 to 30 minutes. Then back at the rink for practice. And we’ll do some yoga after practice.”

At home that night, he does stretching to help his body.

Then maybe he’ll watch some videos of a past game.

Generally after a BCHL contest, the players get a video of all of their shifts emailed to them within 24 hours after that game.

“Not everybody does that. But personally I like watching myself play. You’ll remember things out there. I find it helpful,” he said.

He tries to get on the ice early during the specialized workouts.

Mondays are for goalies; Tuesdays are for defense; Wednesdays are for forwards; and Thursday is the power play.

Clark watches in awe.

“He’s dedicated to the 100th degree,” Clark said. “He wants to play in the NHL, and these years are important.”

Then he adds, “Oh, and he’s team captain, so that’s another thing to throw on his plate. He, along with the assistant captains, has to not only get himself ready to play, he’s got the task of making sure all 23 guys are ready to play. He cares a whole bunch. He lives it.”

He takes his captaincy seriously.

“As a captain, you have to be the hardest worker,” said Cade. “I’m not the loudest guy. I generally lead by example. You have to be a hard worker everyday out on the ice. You’re not out for a Sunday skate. You have to help the younger guys, keep the guys pumped up.”

Bliss beams with pride.

“My wife and I and his sister are awfully proud of him as a person and player,” he said. “The amount of sacrifice he has put in to get where he is is impressive. He doesn’t have a big social life. He gets his workouts in, he’s shooting pucks, he eats right, he gets his sleep.

“At times, we’d like to see him be more of a teenager.”

Cade agrees.

“I definitely need to try to do that more,”he said. “I get tunnel vision sometimes. All I can think about is hockey at times. There are only so many games in a season.”

And there is still plenty of time for the Wild to get this season turned around.

“We have a great team. We just need more commitment, and that’s hurting us in the third period,” said Cade. “In our first eight losses, in seven of those games, we were either tied or winning going into the third period. It’s the little things, like dumping the puck into the end and then not getting it, or trying to block the shot from the point, and it doesn’t get blocked and it goes into the net. I don’t think we’re getting outplayed. We’re kind of doing it to ourselves.”

Like he said before, winning in hockey is fun.

So is playing hockey.

“I think what I love is that all of my friends are here (on the team),” he said. “I mean, I have some non-hockey friends. But right now I get to see my friends every day. I’m playing hockey every day. I’m just excited to be on the ice and at home.

“I’m just living the moment right now.”