PORTLAND, Ore. - Before Wenatchee Wild Hockey Academy director Troy Mick was part of a Western Hockey League organization in north-central Washington, he was a star for another one five hours away.

How big a star, you ask?

Big enough to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, just as the heyday of Lemieux and Jagr was beginning...and big enough to be considered one of the very best in Winterhawks history.

Mick was recently announced as one of the Winterhawks' top 50 players in franchise history, in the wake of the club's 50th Anniversary home opener. The team entered the WHL with the relocation of the original Edmonton Oil Kings franchise, and settled into the Memorial Coliseum in downtown Portland, where they remain today. A decade after the move from Edmonton, the Winterhawks traded for an up-and-coming star from Vernon, British Columbia.

"Portland traded for me when I was with the Merritt Warriors, which is the Merritt Centennials now," said Mick. "I got called up in February, and there was nothing crazier than playing in front of 10,500 people and the fans lining up five deep in our end zone for warmups. I got to come up for the Memorial Cup in 1986, and the next three-and-a-half years was a blur."

Even coming from a city that only passed the 20,000 mark in the mid-1980s, Mick immediately felt right at home in the Rose City. He gave that joy right back to Portland, giving them 353 points in just three full seasons before finishing his WHL career with the Regina Pats in 1990 (and adding another 113 points to that total). He continues to hold two of the top 11 scoring seasons in Winterhawks history, and those 353 points still rank sixth on the club's all-time leaderboard - his 466 WHL points remains the league's 13th-highest total of all-time, 35 years after he played his last game in the league.

"Back then, the game was different," said Mick. "We didn't have many board ads, or really any ice logos. Now, it's a lot different to where it's more speed and skill. The style of play is way different - I've got a bunch of my VHS tapes, and watching some of those games, it was amazing because we had no buckets in warmups, the Cooperall long pants, and we had referees and linesmen that didn't wear helmets. The speed and skill are so much better now - the game is different, but it's just evolved. We had two-line passes back in the day, and I talk to my guys and they look at me like I'm archaic because they have no idea what a two-line pass is."

Another member of the team's top 50 is a childhood friend of Mick's - he and Dallas Stars amateur scout Dennis Holland grew up less than three blocks from each other, began playing on the same line with each other at just 10 years old, and even played other sports alongside each other off the ice. Holland equaled a WHL record on November 23, 1988 with seven goals in a single game...and Mick's name is right next to his, with an assist on every single goal.

"We've been best friends for over 50 years," said Mick. "We played baseball and lacrosse together, and [now] he and I are in the top 50 for all-time scoring in the Western Hockey League. I wouldn't be where I am today without the Western Hockey League."

Though the NHL dream never quite panned out, Mick did enjoy a three-year pro career in the East Coast Hockey League before becoming a general manager and a head coach in both the British Columbia Hockey League and the WHL. He now finds himself in his fourth season as the director of Wenatchee's academy program, leading four AAA teams - two of those teams play in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League, widely considered one of the continent's top school-based circuits.

"My dad put me on skates when I was two years old, and pushed me around. I try to tell my guys in the Academy that they can't take championship banners away. They can't take the individual successes away, but the team success has to go first," said Mick. "It took all the teams and all my teammates that I played with to make it happen, and just to be honored as one of the top 50 with such a proud Portland Winterhawks team, I'm beyond honored. The guys have to realize that before you know it, it's over, so enjoy your time now."