By Jeff D'Andrea

Prince Albert local Lange trying to crack Raiders’ d-core

Sep 2, 2011 | 6:35 AM

Barring a trade, defenceman Sawyer Lange will be playing his hockey in his hometown of Prince Albert this season.

But the question remains, will he be playing for the Raiders of the Western Hockey League, or Midget AAA with the Mintos?

The 17-year-old Lange said that by getting drafted by his hometown Raiders in the fourth round in 2009 was a great opportunity for him—not one he wants to let slip away.

“It means a lot, obviously this is my home town and I got drafted here,” said Lange. “It’s just nice to stay at home. Most guys don’t understand. I get to sleep in my own bed. It means a lot.”

Making the Raiders’ defensive core won’t be easy this season as Harrison Ruopp, Tyler Yaworski, Antoine Corbin and Mathew Berry-Lamontagna are all returning for another year. Mix in highly-touted 16-year-old Josh Morrissey, newly drafted European Kristaps Bazevics and over-ager James Bettauer there aren’t many spots available.

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Matt Waseylenko, 18-year-old free agent and 16-year-old Arvin Atwal aren’t exactly making it easier to make the team either.

But Wednesday’s game is any indication Lange will be a very tough cut to make for the Raiders coaching staff.

Lange scored the eventual game-winning goal Wednesday in a 6-2 exhibition win over the Blades and was +2. Although he was critical of his own play during the Raiders’ camp scrimmages, Lange said he was much more pleased with Wednesday’s game.

“Personally I thought this exhibition game I played pretty strong, I was more happy with my play (Wednesday) than I was for most of camp, so it’s nice to see that I’m starting to kind of get it going here again,” said Lange.

“I was a lot more confident last night, I wasn’t afraid to make plays.”

Lange said he gained that confidence by getting off to a good start within his first few shifts, and that allowed him feel relaxed and poised for the remainder of the game.

“My first shift or two, I made a couple of strong plays and after that, I was really confident,” said Lange.

“I wasn’t afraid to make any mistakes or anything like that, I just felt comfortable and I was able to control the puck a lot better and play my game.

“Sometimes, that can change an entire game for a guy.”

Listed at five feet 11 inches and 181 pounds, Lange knows he will have to keep moving the puck and creating offence for himself and his teammates to be successful.

“Everyone knows I’m not a big guy, so I gotta just have to be smart, be fast, make nice passes and I gotta be one of the more offensive defencemen out here, hopefully generate some offence and be strong defensively at the same time,” said Lange.

Should Lange be cut and sent to the Mintos, it certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. He was fantastic last season, finishing second in the SMAAAHL scoring race among defencemen with 13 goals and 36 points in 43 regular season games as a 16-year-old. He also had eight points in ten playoff games for the provincial champion Mintos.

Mintos general manager Don Fauchoux has said on the record that Lange could be the SMAAAHL Most Valuable Player and/or Defenceman of the Year should he return to the Midget AAA level.

“Hopefully I can stay here, but if I go back, I guess I’ll take all the things I learned here,” said Lange.

“It’s a faster pace (with the Raiders) so I could push the guys on my team to get going at a little faster pace and use my experience in the league to help out the young guys.”

jdandrea@panow.com