Barclay Rocheleau – Athlete

For an athlete to succeed in one sport it is the result of a lot of hard work. For an athlete to be successful in two sports it is indeed a rare accomplishment.  Barclay Rocheleau not only succeeded in two sports, he dominated.

Born on February 13, 1962, in Prince Albert, Barclay began playing sports at a very early age. From the time he was six years old he was playing baseball in the summer and hockey in the winter. When he reached his teenage years, Barclay was gaining attention year-round.

In hockey, Barclay played most of his minor years with the Parkland Community Club. When he was 16 he joined the Midget AA Raiders and a year later he was playing Junior B with the Prince Albert Jaks. The next two seasons were with the Prince Albert Raiders of the Saskatchewan Amateur Junior Hockey League and in each of those campaigns he helped the Raiders win the Centennial Cup which is symbolic of national supremacy in Junior A hockey. His final year with the Raiders was capped with a spot on the national championship all star team as the top left winger of the tournament. Barclay played senior hockey with the Prince Albert Buckeyes as a 20-year-old and then finished his playing career two years later with the Shellbrook Elks.

Those accomplishments alone are impressive, but they were not nearly as dominant as what he did on a ball diamond.

At 15 years old, Barclay switched from baseball to softball and from then on he captured every honor possible in the Prince Albert area and abroad. From 1977 to ’81 he played with the Old Dutch Twins in the Sportsman Softball League and during that span he was named an all star at first base and captured the home run title. The next four years were in the P.A. Senior Softball League where he won every title imaginable. He was the rookie of the year in 1982, the batting champion, an all-star outfielder, most valuable player and the home run king in each of the four seasons.

From 1986-90, Barclay played Senior “A” ball in Canada during the summer and in the winter he was in New Zealand tearing up the league “Down Under”. For four years – from 1989 to 1992 -Barclay was a member of the Canadian National Fastball Team and on five occasions from 1986 to 1993 he was at the Canadian National Championships where he garnered all-star outfielder status four times. In 1986, Barclay was named to the all-world all-star team while competing with the Saskatoon All-o-Matic A’s at the International Softball Congress held in Sioux City, Iowa. That same year he was picked as an all-star outfielder at the Camrose World Series of Fastball.

Barclay has since passed on some of his knowledge in the game by coaching a women’s club in a Saskatoon Senior A league and he also helped coach the Junior B Prince Albert North Stars to a provincial title once his playing days in hockey were over.

Already an inductee in the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the 1980-81 Centennial Cup champion Prince Albert Raiders, the local shrine is proud to give him a place of his own in the athlete category.

Inducted into the Prince Albert Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.