Raiders goaltender Ian Scott celebrates after scoring the only goalie goal in Raiders history. (Lucas Chudleigh/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Jeff D'Andrea and Trevor Redden

Great Scott

Ian Scott reflects on winning the ‘ship and fixing his hip

May 8, 2020 | 5:12 PM

Show me a good team and we’ll show you a good goaltender.

Sure, the Prince Albert Raiders essentially had three first lines and six minute-munching defencemen as they went on to lift the 2019 Ed Chynoweth Cup and win the WHL championship.

But as good as the team was in front of him, Ian Scott put together possibly the best goaltending season than anybody else ever has in a Raiders uniform.

He was the WHL Playoffs Most Valuable Player, CHL Goaltender of the Year, and set five Raiders franchise records (only Raiders goalie to score a goal, 1.83 goals against average, 9.32 save percentage, eight shutouts, 185:44 scoreless minutes).

Maybe the only thing he didn’t get right was the celebration after winning the championship. After Dante Hannoun scored the overtime winner, he famously threw off his helmet at centre ice and glided to the far-left corner.

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Scott was in his crease and started to beeline toward Hannoun, but then realized the entire team was quickly behind him. Scott quickly turned at the blue line right in front of the stampede to avoid a collision and join in the festivities.

“I didn’t even really see the puck go in, I just saw that ‘oh, we just scored,’” Scott said. “Nooner was coming back towards me when I skating that way, then I realized I had to do a U-turn and not hit anyone going back the other way. That was pretty funny.”

The only other thing Scott remembers in that overtime period is when a puck went in between his legs during the penalty kill.

“I don’t remember any of that overtime, it’s all kind of a blur. I just remember the one where the puck went off the backwards pad between my legs,” Scott said. “I think we were on the PK in overtime. I remember that moment, but everything else was a blur until Nooner scored.”

The Raiders are just over halfway through replaying their championship series on their YouTube channel.

Like a lot of the Raiders, Scott has sat down and watched all the series. Game 4, which will be shown on Friday night at 7 p.m., was easily Scott’s best game. He stopped all 36 shots against him in a 1-0 shutout victory over the Vancouver Giants in a critical victory.

Unfortunately, Scott did a lot of watching this season, as he was never able to get on the ice. He was feeling sore in his groin and hip and the medical staff couldn’t figure out what exactly was wrong. Then in December, the doctors discovered that Scott required hip surgery, which put him out for the rest of the season.

“I just finished a practice and I realized my groin and hip was a little sore. Got checked out, didn’t skate for a bit and it just wasn’t going away,” Scott said. “We got a second round of imaging done and they noticed my hip wasn’t doing too well. That’s where surgery came in, that was in December. Now we’re about five months post-op and we’re starting to push it more every day.”

With the nagging injury and it not getting better, that was the hardest part for Scott.

“I definitely struggled with that for a bit, not knowing what it was, when it was going to get better and not really seeing any improvement,” Scott said. “After surgery and after a couple months of rehab, it’s starting to feel pretty good. This isn’t for nothing. It taught me a lot of stuff off the ice, maybe not playing pro hockey, but living on my own, living with my girlfriend, the day-to-day life of that taught me a lot.”

Next year, Scott is looking forward to getting back on the ice at some point with the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League. Then, he’ll get the opportunity to play against his former Raider teammates he won the championship with, like Parker Kelly with the Belleville Senators, Zack Hayes and Brayden Pachal with the Vegas Golden Knights’ AHL team.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW