By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders’ Thompson trying to crack loaded blueline; Habby breaking the ice

Aug 27, 2015 | 9:44 PM

Defenceman Cody Thompson is the Prince Albert Raiders’ highest drafted skater among their 16-year-olds, going in the third round of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft.

But whether or not he’s ready to make the jump to the WHL level full-time as a 16-year-old, there won’t be a ton of room for him or any of the defence prospects on the Raiders this season.

The Raiders are expected to return at least four defencemen from last year’s roster in Jesse Lees, Brendan Guhle, Dalton Yorke and Brendan Riddle. They also just signed Czech Import Vojtech Budik on Wednesday.

To make the blueline seem even more crowded, Mackenze Stewart (signed with the Vancouver Canucks) and Hunter Warner (signed with the Minnesota Wild) are also possibilities to return as overagers if their big clubs want them to get another junior year under their belts.

Despite the huge numbers already on the Raiders’ blueline, Thompson is still aiming to make this year’s squad.

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“That’d be nice, that’s definitely the goal but there aren’t a lot of D spots open,” said Thompson, who had 13 assists in 43 games with the Southwest Cougars in Manitoba Midget AAA. “I just have to do what I can and see what happens.”

Thompson has certainly put in the work to make the team, starting back from his first Raider camp last August as a 15-year-old. He took the feedback the Raiders staff gave him and designed ways to get better.

“They wanted me to lose a little bit of weight and definitely get faster, because I’m a bigger guy,” said Thompson, the 6’3 giant who said he shed 15 pounds from last year. “So when I went home, I talked to my trainer and I got a program to lose a lot of weight.

“I lost the amount of weight they wanted me to and I got a lot faster, so I hope they’re happy with that.”

He’s only been through one practice on Thursday, but the Raiders coaching staff has already seen a difference.

“I think Cody’s come a long ways,” said associate coach Dave Manson, who works with the defence core. “His conditioning’s better, he’s more mature, his body’s changing and he’s picking up some more foot speed.

“But it’s day one. Like we told the kids, nobody’s making the team today.”

New coach breaking the ice

This is the first full Raiders training camp that head coach Marc Habscheid will be a part of, as he joined the Raiders midway through last season.

He wanted to break the ice with his new prospects and found a quirky but fun way to do so.

At the beginning of each of Thursday’s practice sessions, Habscheid skated around the stretching circle at the middle of the ice and asked the players if they knew a WWE wrestler. A correct answer was rewarded with a high five, while those that provided a wrong answer needed to do a quick lap.

“With these guys, they’re so nervous and they want to try so hard, so it’s just a way to break the tension and let them know to have some fun,” said Habscheid, who said he does this with the big-club Raiders as well. “We know they’re going to try their hardest, but it’s okay to have a laugh, too. It goes by quick, it seems yesterday I was in their shoes, and that was almost 35, 40 years ago (with the Saskatoon Blades in 1979).

“It’s an honour to be coming to a Western Hockey League camp, a lot of their friends never got that opportunity so enjoy while you’re here and work your hardest but the sun will rise no matter what.”

Raiders rookie rosters

(Roster number, player, year born, drafted/signed)

Goalies

36, Curtis Meger, 1998, signed

38, Tyler Myers, 1998

Defencemen

2, Kyle Sargent, 1998 (originally drafted by Red Deer in 2013, 9^th round)

3, Garrett Kuklica, 1998 (originally drafted by Kelowna in 2013, 9^th round)

4, Cody Thompson, 1999, drafted in 2014, 3^rd round, signed

5, Austin Crossley, 1999

6, Ashton Heidt, 1999, drafted in 2014, sixth round pick

7, Tyler Lowe, 2000, drafted in 2015, third round pick

8, Chase Felgueiras, 2000, drafted in 2015, 6^th round,

9, Tauran Simonar-Hayes, 2000

10, Terrin Kaczynski, 2000

Forwards

11, Tyler Heidt, 1998

14, Keevan Daniels-Webb, 1999, drafted in 2014, 10^th round

15, Tyler Maser, 1999

16, Sean Thornton, 1999

17, Parker Kelly, 1999, drafted in 2014, 7th round, signed

18, Jaden Townsend, 1999

19, Dino Antoniadis, 1999

20, Cole Fonstad, 2000, drafted in 2015, 1^st round, fifth overall, signed

21, Justin Nachbaur, 2000, drafted in 2015, 7^th round

22, Lewis Negrich, 2000

23, Lynden McCallum, 2000

24, Tate Popple, 2000

Team Gold

Goaltenders

37, Kayden Pickles, 1998

39, Ian Scott, 1999, drafted in 2014, 1^st round, 9^th overall, signed

Defencemen

2, Tate Page, 1998

4, Ty Prefontaine, 1999, drafted in 2014, 5th round, signed

5, Zackary Hayes, 1999, drafted in 2014, 9th round

6, Adam Millar, 1999

7, Lane Kirk, 2000, drafted in 2015, 5^th round

8, Michael Gaumont, 2000

9, Alec Borger, 2000

10, Carson Tiede, 2000

Forwards

11, R.J. Harland, 1998

12, Gino Astrouski, 1999

14, Josh Maser, 1999, drafted in 2014, 4^th round pick, signed

16, Matthew Chekay, 1999

17, Chase Hamstad, 1999

18, Reagan Poncelet, 1999

19, Kolby Page, 1999

20, Carson Miller, 2000, drafted in 2015, 1^st round, 21^st overall, signed

21, Spencer Moe, 2000, drafted in 2015, 2^nd round, 28^th overall, signed

22, Garrett Clegg, 2000, drafted in 2015, 7^th round

23, Hunter Cloutier, 2000

24, Duncan Pierce, 2000

25, Brian Mentuck, 2000

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea