Landon Kosior skating during Wednesday’s Raider practice outside at Crescent Acres. (Jeff D’Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Rolling With The D

Raiders with no spares on D, that’s just fine with Landon Kosior

Jan 23, 2020 | 9:01 AM

The Prince Albert Raiders have rolled on with no defence to spare for most of the season. Even at the trade deadline, Raiders General Manager Curtis Hunt did not add another, meaning the Raiders are moving ahead, at least for the time being, with just six defencemen.

Especially for the Raiders’ rookies in 17-year-old Landon Kosior and 16-year-old Nolan Allan, to have that kind of faith from both their general manager and the coaching staff goes a long way.

“It’s definitely important to know that the coaches trust us all,” rookie blueliner Landon Kosior said. “It just gives you a little bit extra confidence when you’re out there. It’s been nice to have the coaches trust in us.”

Kosior’s journey to get to this position has been an interesting one.

He went undrafted in the WHL Bantam Draft, before getting listed by the Raiders early in the 2018-19 season while with the Tisdale Trojans. Kosior signed with the Raiders after his second camp, was thrown into the fire on opening day and hasn’t looked back since.

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Despite being on a team with overaged minute-munchers in Zack Hayes and Jeremy Masella, and even with the fleet-footed Allan and steady Remy Aquilon, Kosior is second on the Raiders for points by a defenceman with 17 in 45 games. He’s also tied for the team lead with three goals by defencemen. Only Kaiden Guhle, who’s currently the highest rated WHL prospect for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, has more points among Raiders blueliners (seven goals, 26 points in 45 games).

“I don’t think I would’ve had too high of expectations. I just wanted us a team to do well,” said Kosior, who himself is ranked 126^th among North American skaters. “I’m glad how we’ve done so far as a team, and my individual success has definitely come from our success as a team.”

Kosior doesn’t always score goals, but when he does, they are snipes. His latest came on Saturday in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Red Deer Rebels when he scored his third of the year on a rare breakaway.

“It was definitely a good feeling. I was coming out of the box, I wasn’t expecting much to happen but we got a lucky bounce. I was able to get on a breakaway, nice pass from Brayden [Watts] there. Just a lot going through my head, I was really happy to get us up 2-1 there before the end of the period.”

Kosior and the rest of the Raiders will take on the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday, both at home at the Art Hauser Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW