Ken Shaw moved to Dauphin in September 2008. For the next more than nine years, he became someone everyone knew and someone who everyone wanted to.
Whether it was working at Safeway or spending his time at the golf course, Ken completely immersed himself into the Dauphin community.
His son Connor played for the Dauphin Clippers, Parkland Rangers and Dauphin Kings and Ken was always front row and he never missed a game.
In 2016, Connor moved to Winnipeg to go to school and play with the Transcona Railer Express. Ken commuted for every possible game that he could.
When the 2017-18 season came along, Ken’s life was altered. He packed up his bags and moved just outside of Winnipeg so he could be extra close to his son and watch every single game of his final competitive hockey season without having to commute as much.
When Connor and the team lost in the league final last season, Ken expected to spend a little bit less time at the rink, but that wasn’t the case at all.
He became the Railers Express “Team Photographer” this season.
“I didn’t really know how to take a picture last year, but to be able to take a couple of online courses and go out there and put it to the test, it was really enjoyable,” said Shaw. “The team likes it and they want me back next season. I love it and I plan on continuing to do it.”
The one big difference from this season compared to many in the past was Connor was no longer around at the rink. He graduated and could no longer play which allowed him to focus solely on his studies at the University of Manitoba.
Just like he devoted so many hours to watching his son play, Ken was now tasked with devoting many of his nights to taking pictures for the Railer Express and he certainly made the most of it.
“I did really miss watching Connor play. The excitement you get when you see your son playing, there really is nothing like it,” added Shaw. “But with that being said, I still really enjoy the game itself. I’ve been involved with the game for 55 years and to not be involved with it because my son isn’t there, that just wouldn’t make sense to me.”
“I didn’t enjoy it to the same level as I would have if Connor was playing, but I will say, it was a lot easier on my heart,” added Shaw with a chuckle. “The excitement was still there. I felt really passionate about the team all regular season and right through the playoffs.”
Despite having a young team this season, the Railer express still went 24-16-5 in the regular season. They also had a 3-1 series lead in the semi-final before they dropped three straight against the St. James Jr. Canucks as their season came to an end on Sunday, April 14.
“I would say we exceeded expectations. I think we should be in the finals with how we played, but we’re not. We lost our best player with six seconds left in the regular season when he broke his leg so it was a freak accident,” said Shaw. “We showed up and really played well all season.”
“It was fun to watch. We had two game seven’s in two series, like talk about excitement,” added Shaw. “We didn’t win, but I would say we had a pretty successful year.”
The team will hold their season ending banquet in the coming weeks which Ken is very excited to take part in.
Apart from that, it’s time to get summer going. Ken will enjoy it by playing some golf, spending time with Connor and of course as people know in Dauphin, riding his motorcycle is something he will do plenty of.
Here are some of Ken’s shots from the season for your enjoyment:
