By Corey Atkinson, Fort McMurray Today

Thursday Jan 28, 2010:  They may not be playing a lot of games, but the Keyano Huskies men's basketball team with a Bird in the roster is worth wins on the season. Huskies men's basketball coach Mike Connolly announced yesterday they picked up point guard Colin Bird to join the program, which will play in the ACAC next season.

Bird was one of the leading scorers on the Lethbridge College Kodiaks before leaving that team at Christmastime. "We're excited about having him the opportunity to come up here," Connolly said. "He's a very talented player. High skill level — university-calibre skill level. For his personal needs, this is one of the better places for him. He has a year and a half under his belt in the ACAC already… We just added an instant two man who's going to add a lot of scoring."

In eight games with the Kodiaks, Bird scored 11.4 points per game, and team highs with 5.4 rebounds and three assists per game. The way Connolly sees it, Bird will leak out into the open court where the other guard, Mike Thomas, will be able to get him the ball."I can pretty much do anything, (and) just do what coach asks," Bird said. "I think I'll lead by example. I'm not very vocal on the court. I do listen to my teammates, so whatever they have to say, if I'm doing wrong, they'll correct me on it."

Connolly, the former University of Lethbridge Pronghorns head coach, said that he's wanted to add Bird to his program for a long time. "That gives me a lot of confidence," Bird said. "It feels good to know that he wants me to come so bad. I don't mind coming here."

He finished his last year at Kainai High School in Standoff, at 30 points per game. "He's going to be able to compliment what we have pretty well," Connolly said.

Colin  Bird (in blue)