Mike Vanderkwaak is the Hockey Ministries International chaplain for the Chilliwaak Bruins of the Western Hockey League. Mike has mentored adults and teens for the past 16 years, including the past three years as the Bruins' Team Chaplain. He has an Engineering and a Masters Of Divinity Degree, and has been involved with sports including hockey and triathlons.  Mike's passion is providing spiritual and leadership coaching for leaders and elite athletes.  He is the pastor of Heartland Fellowship and has lived in Chilliwack for 5 years with his wife Patti and 4 kids Matt, Kassi, Levi and James.

The following is a recent story on  that appeared in the Chilliwaak Times, highlighting Mike's ministry with the Bruins. The story is being posted with gracious permission by the Chilliwaak Times and writer Cornelia Naylor. 

When Bruins' chaplain, Mike Vanderkwaak came to the team almost four years ago, he had to carve out a role for himself without much direction.

In the fast-paced, elite hockey environment, it was sometimes a challenge to connect with players while keeping out of the coaching staff's way.

Over the years, though, a few defining moments have made his role with the team crystal clear.

Last November, when Bruins captain Jadon Potter lay motionless on the Prospera Centre ice after crashing head first into the boards during a game against the Tri-City Americans, refs cleared the ice, and the crowded Bruins' dressing room was dead silent.

Vanderkwaak hovered outside. Jim Hiller, the Bruins coach at the time, had a strict "hands off" policy on game days, so Vanderkwaak wasn't sure what to do until a trainer came out and told him he was asking for him.

"They were all down on one knee in a circle," said Vanderkwaak describing the scene in the dressing room. "They looked up at me and said, 'Would you pray for Jadon with us.'"

Vanderkwaak, a pastor at Chilliwack's Heartland Fellowship church, sees himself as helping the Bruins help players grow up, not just as hockey players but as people.

"They're teenagers," he said. "Living away from home, there's things that they're thinking about, and I'm available as a chaplain to help and support them."

Vanderkwaak, who played minor and college hockey himself, volunteers his time with the Bruins through Hockey Ministries International, an organization that works with professional and junior leagues including the WHL to provide teams with chaplains and monthly chapels.

That's the formal part of Vanderkwaak's job--providing 15 to 20 minutes of inspirational talk and prayer each month to the 10 to 20 Bruins players that come out to scheduled chapels.

The bigger part of his work, though, is building relationships with players at the rink and giving them someone to talk to about things they wouldn't bring up with buddies, coaches or billet families.

A couple of years ago, for example, a player whose grandfather had just died asked him about death and what happens after we die.

"He was thinking," said Vanderkwaak. "He was thinking about not only his life as a player, but his whole life, and what does it mean when it's over."

Although Vanderkwaak says he doesn't distinguish between players who share his faith and those who don't, he makes no bones about his Christian perspective.

"I happen to be a Christian pastor, so I speak from that perspective," he said. "My goal is to be the presence of Christ at the rink and still be invited back without compromising what I believe."

One way he's gotten the Bruins organization on board is Faith Night.

On Jan. 27, when the Bruins take on the Spokane Chiefs, Prospera Centre will celebrate Chilliwack's faith community by hosting a contemporary Christian rock band, a 60-voice choir and information tables from a range of local, faith-based agencies including the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). On the jumbotron hockey players, including some playing in the NHL, will talk about what faith means to them as players and people. Click here for link to the Chilliwaak Bruins "Faith Night" website

Now in its second year with the Bruins, Faith Night and similar theme nights featuring faith are common in professional leagues like Major League Baseball and the NBA.

Vanderkwaak got the idea from the chaplain of the Saskatoon Blades who first brought it to the WHL.

This year's Faith Night will highlight the work of B.C. Teen Challenge, an addictions recovery program with a centre in Yarrow.

"What they do for people is amazing," said Vanderkwaak.

Other faith-based agencies will also be on hand with information about their services and ways people can get involved.

The night is just another way Vanderkaak, as the Bruins chaplain, hopes to inspire faith in the city of Chilliwack.

For Bruins players like Potter, who is still recovering from damaged vertebrae in his neck, it's a faith Vanderkwaak thinks can help them maintain perspective through hard times.

"It's important to know who your are as a person," he said, "because who you are as a person can get so enmeshed with how you perform--you can lose yourself."