By Jeff D'Andrea

‘Great’ Scott hopes busy off-season will pay off at draft

Jun 9, 2017 | 12:00 PM

For most hockey players, offseasons are usually a mix of rest and downtime, while also preparing for the upcoming hockey year.

Ian Scott is not like most hockey players.

He’s barely had a true offseason since coming into the WHL with the Prince Albert Raiders after making his rookie debut as a 16-year-old in the 2015-16 season.

Scott just went through the NHL Combine in Buffalo last week and is currently attending his third straight Team Canada Program of Excellence goaltender camp this weekend in his hometown of Calgary.

On top of his heavy work load with the Raiders, Scott has already represented Team Canada three times in his career; the IIHF Under-18 World Championships, the Under-17 Worlds, and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

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With his workload becoming so much more than his regular WHL duties, Scott said it’s important to not burn out physically.

“You just have to know when you can take some downtime to rest and relax,” Scott said. “I’m in the gym quite a bit, it’s just a matter of scheduling it all out and seeing how the summer is going to play out.”

The NHL Entry Draft is just over the horizon for Scott as well, June 23-24 in Chicago. Scott is ranked third among North American goaltenders by NHL Central Scouting, 65^th overall in the final rankings by TSN scout Craig Button (sixth goalie overall), and 74^th overall by Future Considerations.

“I’m just waiting until the day I guess, you never know what could happen. Especially being a goalie, you could go anywhere,” Scott said. “It’s just an exciting feeling that you could go.”

But like the entire Raiders team, it was an up-and-down season for Scott. He started out the year strong with seven of his first nine appearances with a save percentage above .920.

But then November came, when the Raiders tied a franchise record with nine consecutive regulation losses. In seven of his eight November appearances, Scott had a save percentage of .889 or less. But to show just how up-and-down Scott’s season really was, that outlier in November was a 22-save shutout in a 6-0 victory over the Kootenay ICE.

Scott finished the regular season on a high note, playing in 10 of the Raiders’ final 13 games of the season, going 5-4-1.

“Obviously I struggled with consistency, that’s something I think I’m still learning and working on,” Scott said. “I think I still put a pretty strong impression into the scouts. You just sit and wait again.”

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW