Defenceman Landon Kosior has been named the WHL's player of the week after eight points in four games. (submitted photo/Mark Peterson Media)

By Rob Mahon

Kosior Player of Week

Kosior earns league honour after offensive outburst on road

Feb 7, 2023 | 4:00 PM

A defenceman putting together a stretch of eight points in just four games is sure to be noticed, and Landon Kosior, who had just such a stretch on the Prince Albert Raiders’ road trip to British Columbia, has indeed been noticed by the WHL.

The league has named Kosior their player of the week for the week ending on February 5. Kosior amassed three goals and five assists over four games during that week.

“It’s always nice to get those personal awards, for sure,” Kosior said. “But as a team we did really well too. That definitely helped me out when all the boys were going during the weekend. We had a great road trip as a team.”

That road trip, the first through B.C. in four years for the Raiders, got off to a great start with a win over the Prince George Cougars before a trip to the southern segment of the province. The team ultimately went 3-2 in five games on the road trip, dropping their last game to the Kelowna Rockets despite piling up 51 shots on goal.

“It went about as well as we could have hoped for,” Kosior said. “We got the first three wins and even though we lost the last two, I thought both were great efforts and we definitely could have won both. It was a good trip for our team.”

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One of Kosior’s goals came against the Kamloops Blazers, a team that will be hosting the Memorial Cup this season and has an excellent array of talent at their disposal. In that game, Kosior played against Olen Zellweger, the man who he’s been battling all season for the goal scoring lead among defencemen. Kosior’s tally moved him into a tie with Zellweger at 15 goals each.

“He’s really good,” Kosior said. “It’s always nice to hear your name in the same sentence as his because he’s a really good player and he was definitely fun to play against.”

That experience was just one part of a trip full of new experiences for Kosior and the rest of the Raiders. Most of them had never played in any of those rinks before, and Kosior was one of those experiencing the trip for the first time.

“I’m 20 years old and that was my first time in B.C.,” Kosior said. “I was just like the rookies, I’d never seen those rinks and I didn’t know where to go to warm up or anything. It was weird, we were all kind of learning together.”

Kosior and the Raiders are back in action on Friday night when they travel to Swift Current for the start of a critical home-and-home against the Broncos. Puck drop is 7 p.m.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP