From tragedy, Schwartz finds motivation

EDMONTON, Alta. -- Jaden Schwartz wanted to make one thing perfectly clear when asked how excited he was to be given another shot to accompany the Canadian National Junior Team to the World Junior Championship in December.

"From here on out, this tournament, this camp -- everything is for (my sister)," Schwartz told NHL .com following the opening day of Canada's development camp at Rexall Place . "While I'm obviously trying to do this for me, my family and for Canada ; most of all, it's for her."

It was only four months ago Mandi Schwartz lost a courageous two-year battle to acute myeloid leukemia. She was only 23.

As you might expect, the wounds are still fresh and not a day goes by that Jaden doesn't think of his sister. The only difference now, he's able to put those feelings into words and share with others willing to listen.

You get the feeling Jaden wants the legacy his sister left behind to last a lifetime. But really, he needn't fear as her spirit will never fade. Her impact was that magnificent.

"She was everything to me," Schwartz said. "She was a huge inspiration in every aspect of life, whether it was hockey or the way she treated people. She kind of touched everybody, especially when she got sick; she never complained about a thing and kept fighting. She kept believing and, every chance she'd get, she'd go for a workout or skate despite being sick -- it was awesome."

Schwartz was living the dream of every hockey-crazed teenage boy this past December when informed he'd represent his country in the World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y. The news came just six months after he was selected in the opening round of the 2010 Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 14 pick.

All the while, though, Mandi struggled with her dreaded disease. The cancer would be put into remission on three occasions, including three months after undergoing a stem-cell transplant in mid-October at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

But each time it would return.

While Jaden would offer some sense of family relief by earning a spot on the 22-man Canadian roster at last year's WJC, it was brief since he was limited to just two games after suffering a broken left ankle. During his talk with the media to announce he would not play another game in the WJC, Schwartz stressed how "there's people in the world going through worse things than I am. So I'll keep that in the back of my mind.

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June 22, 2011 by stevelepore 7 Comments

As reported by many and confirmed to Puck the Media by the league, be on the lookout for the schedule tomorrow. We’ll post it, jordan hat , highlighting the Black Friday/Winter Classic/NBC stuff, and probably an HNIC template. Enjoy the NHL Awards, boston red sox cap , see you then.

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About stevelepore
Steve Lepore likes to blog. He likes the boredom of the media. And he likes all the hockey blogs on the web.

I’m really curious to see what CBC does with “Hockey Day in Canada” now that their are 7 Canadian teams.

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