As a kid, when Gary Haden of Airdrie dreamed about playing professional hockey, it's hard to imagine that dream taking him to a land famous for Scotch whiskey, not Canadian Rye: for Loch Ness, not Lake Louise: and for Munros named Ben Nevis, and not mountains called Castle and Assiniboine.

But Scotland, a country better known for football, the kind played with a round ball and not the oblong one of CFL fame, is precisely where the 23-year-old born and raised Airdronian has chosen to start playing professionally, having just signed a contract with the Glasgow Clan of the U.K.s Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) for the 2022-2023 season.

After growing up in the Airdrie Minor Hockey system, Haden spent two seasons playing for the U15 Airdrie Xtreme before splitting parts of two more with the U16 AC Avalanche, the U18 Bisons and then had a brief stint in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with the Okotoks Oilers.  He was selected by the Regina Pats in of the Western Hockey League in the ninth round of the 2014 (WHL) Bantam Draft but started in the WHL with the Medicine Hat Tigers. 

In a successful four-year WHL career, Haden played with three teams, the Tigers, Saskatoon Blades and Victoria Royals.  In 232 regular-season games, he collected 80 goals while adding 90 assists.

Last season Haden joined the University of Alberta Golden Bears of the U Sports League, which comprises Canadian university teams from across the country.  In 20 games for the Golden Bears, he had 10 goals and 11 assists while helping Alberta to a record of 16 wins, 3 losses, and 1 overtime loss and the Canada West Conference Championship.  The Golden Bears advanced to the U Sports Championship tourney where they lost in double-overtime in the final to the University of Quebec Trois Rivieres Patriotes.  

Haden was scouted by Glasgow Head Coach Malcolm Cameron, a Canadian from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, better known as the hometown of Sidney Crosby.  Cameron coached the Regina Pats in 2014, the year they drafted Haden.  He's happy to have the Airdronian in the Clan lineup.

“Gary’s got good speed, he can finish and can fulfill a multitude of roles and he just works hard so I’m really pleased to add him to our roster.”

After signing with Glasgow, Haden told the Clan website he was excited to begin his pro career in the U.K. 

“It’s my first steps into pro hockey and I feel like I’m strong and it’s right for me personally,” Haden explained.  “I had a good year last year and it’s always been a dream of mine to travel the world and play hockey."

Hockey might not be the first sport you think of in the United Kingdom, however it is now the number-one attended indoor professional sport in the UK and the third largest winter spectator sport after football and rugby union.  Hockey was first played in the U.K. during the 1930s and the Great Britain team won the Olympic gold medal in 1936.

The EIHL is a professional league which was formed in 2003.  Ten teams from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland currently compete in the league. In the 2021-2022 season, Glasgow finished in sixth place with 53 points in 54 games and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.  About two-thirds of the league's players are from North America while the remainder are mostly natives of the U.K.  The majority have Tier One Junior Hockey experience with a few having played pro hockey.  One of the best known members of the EIHL is Griffin Reinhart, a defenceman who plays with the Belfast Giants and is the son of Paul Reinhart, formerly a member of the Calgary Flames.  Griffin Reinhart was drafted fourth overall by the New York Islanders in the 2012 entry draft and also spent time with the Edmonton Oilers.

Haden will wear number 23 for the Clan in the 2022 - 2023 season and will be joined on the Glasgow roster by at least one other Albertan, 27-year-old Colton Waltz from Vermilion.  Waltz spent several seasons with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings. 

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