Cash Arntsen has agriculture deep in his bones.
The Kindersley Klipper player-turned-coach has multiple generations of farming and ranching in his family, so the fact he is passionate about it and wants to make it his livelihood should come as no surprise.
“I do a lot of deliveries (to farms),” he says.
“I do some soil sampling too and enjoy what I do. I am the first generation in my family really to not have grown up on a farm and part of me wishes my parents would have kept it going, but I get it too, farming is stressful!”
Arntsen, 20, was picked first overall in the 2018 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Draft by the La Ronge Ice Wolves but was moved to Kindersley before the 2021-2022 season and spent his whole 100-game SJHL career at the West Central Events Centre.
The move did not just make sense given his physical style and nose for the net, but also that his father Cheyenne played two of his three SJHL seasons between 1992 and 1995 for the Klippers.
Concussions limited him to 15 games this season, and the decision was made in early February to shut him down and transition him to assistant coaching.
“I am doing a lot better now,” he says.
“But I just think I have had so many it was kind of time to step away and worry about the future for myself. Coach Clayton (Jardine) and (assistant coach) Tyler Traptow allowed me to step in and help them with some of their duties after it was something we talked about a bit earlier in the year.
“They and the players have all made it easy on me,” Arntsen adds.
“I’ve run a couple of drills, I got behind the bench for one game which was really something (interesting), some video, just minor stuff that allowed me to stay and not go home early which I am very thankful for. It’s not easy though, it’s hard to be critical of guys because they were my teammates and my best friends, but they’ve been really good about it and I’m starting to get a little more comfortable.”
A native of Swift Current, his family has farmed for generations in the southwest of Saskatchewan.
The arid conditions meant times were often difficult, but Arntsen, clearly a deep thinker and a mature human being, sees clearly the benefits of the agricultural life to a hockey player.
“It’s just the resiliency,” he says, “you have to be resilient to be a farmer.
“Often where I am from it’s pretty dry, so you just have to keep pushing forward and be tough. You have to be mentally strong and that translates to hockey directly. You have to put in the work, farmers are very hard-working people and if you want to be a successful athlete, hard work is the Number 1 thing you need to have.”
Arntsen has spent time representing the Klippers and the SJHL at the Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon and has connected well to Canterra Seeds as an organization through it.
Cash plans to focus on his education once his time with the SJHL is finally done after this season.
“I am going to school next year for agriculture at Olds College, I really enjoy what I do and I want to keep doing that. Working with farmers most of the time they are easy to work with, it’s a great industry and it’s one of if not the most important industries in the world. The world has to be fed, so it’s something I would like to continue.”
Find Clark Munroe’s interview for Canterra Seeds with Cash Arntsen here: