This past weekend saw the renaming of the of Allan Communiplex to the Logan Schatz Memorial Arena. Part of the ceremony was the unveiling of two plaques, one that hangs in the centre of the lobby viewing area and one posted over the main entrance to the rink. The plaques themselves were a labour of love by a gifted artisan.

Brian Hinz is a teacher a Humboldt Collegiate Institute and a woodworker who visualizes decorative pieces and moulds wood using scroll saws, chisels, and traditional tools. Hinz has been working in wood from a young age. He recalls starting to work with his dad's scroll saw when he was in Grade 3. Hinz recalls, "I kind of just learned to use it with him and my brothers. We fought over it all the time and I just carried it on from there. I became a shop teacher; it's another craft that I've played with over the last couple of years. It's been awesome."

Hinz first met Logan Schatz during Schatz's tenure with the Broncos. Schatz was a student in Hinz's shop class. Hinz explains, "It was a good opportunity for me to get to know him. I didn't know Logan through hockey; I knew him as another student through school." As was the case with Schatz, his enthusiasm and good nature shone through in the class. 

In the weeks following the tragic accident that claimed 16 lives, Schatz among them, the town of Allan began making plans to commemorate the Bronco's captain. Mayor of Allan Les Alm connected with Hinz about the memorial. Hinz, originally from the Viscount area was known to Alm, as was his craftsmanship. Hinz recounts the connection, "I had Les Alm reach out to me and ask if I could come up with an idea to commemorate the memorial. I worked together with Logan's parents and with Les, and we came up with an idea."

The idea was to take elements that already existed in the rink and incorporate them with some memorabilia from Logan's hockey career. Hinz details how the project came together, "I just took ideas from the signs they already had. I just tied it together so I came up with a font similar to what they already had. They wanted to carry on the colours that they had with the Broncos, so I kept that. With the integration of the sticks, I went to Bonnie and Kelly (Logan's parents) and asked them to have something to kind of commemorate it. One of the things on the top right-hand stick is that Logan had written his number to kind of keep track of them. So it's a special thing up on the top corner."

The response of the audience to the moment of the unveiling was immediate and enthusiastic. The significance of these plaques goes well beyond their simple presence in this building. The significance speaks to the heart and soul of a family, a community, and to hockey itself. It also speaks to the artist who admits, "I was pretty special for me, that's for sure."