Former Raider Carson Miller made his return to the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

It's Miller Time

Miller returns to where it all began

Jan 31, 2020 | 9:00 AM

For the first time in his WHL career, Carson Miller put on his equipment in the visitor’s dressing room at the Art Hauser Centre.

He’s been there before when he’s visited Prince Albert as part of his Yorkton minor hockey teams, but his appearance Wednesday with the Victoria Royals was the first time he returned to the Hauser since last year’s deadline trade.

“It’s different. Can’t say I’ve been in there very often, other than minor hockey,” Miller said on changing in the visitor’s room. “It’s definitely the different side of the coin.”

“Coming here as an opponent is a little different. It’s always a tough place to play as I’ve heard, and now I know. I thought the guys played well tonight. It was a little interesting playing against some buddies, some former teammates.”

Miller became a Prince Albert Raider through the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft when they selected him in the first round. Miller played 156 games with the Raiders from getting called up in his 15-year-old season in 2015-16, until last year’s trade on Jan. 3 in which the Raiders received WHL Championship Series Game 7 hero Dante Hannoun.

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When asked to look back and reflect on his time in Prince Albert, Miller thought a lot about the people he met and connected with off the ice.

“There’s so much. Whether it be away from the rink, ice fishing and going up to Montreal Lake, the routines we had here, the culture they built in the dressing room and around all that,” Miller said. “There’s so many people, so many connections I’ve made here, really had a lot of roots starting my WHL career here. I’ll never forget those. It was really quite a privilege to play here in the time that I did.”

Now with the Victoria Royals in his 19-year-old season, Miller has taken on a leadership role. He wears the assistant captain’s ‘A’ and plays in big situations up front of the Royals, scoring eight goals and 20 points in 31 games this year. When breaking in with the Raiders, Miller looked up to players like former captain Tim Vanstone and sniper Reid Gardiner and learned about what it means to be a leader from them.

“I really just wanted to be like them moving forward. I try to model my leadership style off of some of those guys. [Curtis] Miske, Brayden Pachal, those guys have done well moving on in life and in hockey,” Miller said. “They’re really good people and I’ve learned a lot. I hope to continue to learn and keep doing that for the rest of hockey, and also in life.”

The Royals are sitting in second in the B.C. Division with a 25-18-4-0 record, although the Royals have been on a six-game winless streak at 0-5-1-0.

“It’s been great. I’ve been lucky getting a lot of opportunities. Haven’t been happy with the way I’ve been playing lately, but you work every day,” Miller said. “There’s ups and downs. The whole season’s a rollercoaster, but my teammates have my back every single night. Just have to keep working, bounces will go my way. Stick to the systems, that’s all you can do.”

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: jeff_paNOW