Riley Sawchuk finished his WHL career with the Edmonton Oil Kings. (Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oil Kings)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Checking in with Riley

Sawchuk’s spectacular swan song swept away in pandemic cancellations

Jun 3, 2020 | 3:09 PM

It was shaping up to be a long and prosperous playoff season for Prince Albert’s Riley Sawchuk.

In his swan song season, Sawchuk was the leading scorer on the best team in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, the Edmonton Oil Kings—the only team in the conference with a winning percentage about .700 (at .734).

He was hoping to graduate as a WHL champion, or at the very least after a long playoff run with his fellow Oil Kings, who would grow whatever they could for playoff beards and moustaches.

But like so many things, that hope was taken away by a global pandemic of a novel coronavirus. That last kick of the can for Sawchuk will always end on a “what if.”

“It was tough. We really thought we had something good going into playoffs. It was really unfortunate for things to end the way they did,” Sawchuk said. “But you can’t really do anything about it. It’s a tough loss, but things go on.”

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The ending of the season didn’t come immediately, it was a gruelling 13-day period of uncertainty while players sat and waited to get the green light that never came. Initially on March 10, the WHL issued a release on holding games but taking various precautions, then one on pausing the season on March 12. The WHL then cancelled the remainder of the regular season while leaving the door open for playoffs on March 18, before then cancelling the entire postseason and Memorial Cup on March 23.

“You know, it sucked,” Sawchuk said. “We really thought we were going to come back and finish the season but when we got the news that we weren’t, it was really tough to hear.”

Although he never got the chance to finish his final WHL season, there’s plenty for him to look back on. His first big highlight was on Jan. 6, 2017 when he happened to score his first WHL game in the Art Hauser Centre of all places. As a 17-year-old rookie with the Tri-City Americans, Sawchuk went his first 29 games without scoring a goal. But once he stepped foot in his hometown rink where he played with the Prince Albert Mintos for two years and a bit with the Prince Albert Venice House Pirates, Sawchuk got his first goal in a 7-1 Americans’ win.

“I think we were winning by quite a bit that game. I scored the goal and I remember hearing the buzzer go off like when P.A. scored. It was an unbelievable feeling,” Sawchuk, who was drafted by the Americans in the sixth round of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft, said. “My teammates were super pumped for me. It was a really [memorable] moment.”

A fun fact on Sawchuk’s first-ever goal: the only Americans’ player to get an assist on it was none other than Brett “the Reason” Leason. Leason was later traded to the Raiders the following October, before his now-famous 89-point breakout season to help the Raiders to their 2019 Ed Chynoweth Cup-winning year.

“He was a little hidden back then and he wasn’t as popular, but I could really tell he was growing his game,” Sawchuk said of Leason. “When he got the opportunity, he really took advantage of it.”

After getting drafted by the Americans, Sawchuk played 195 games with the Kennewick, Wash., based team. The Americans made the playoffs each year, including getting to the WHL Western Conference Finals, losing out to the Everett Silvertips in six games.

Sawchuk loved his time with the Americans, but the one big problem was how far away it was from Prince Albert. It’s a 17-hour drive and almost as far away from Sawchuk’s hometown as you can get in the WHL.

Sawchuk was then traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings for his 20-year-old season. It wasn’t to a Saskatchewan-based team, but it was close enough for his family to come and watch him play when they had a chance.

“I did miss two things about Tri-City, my billets and teammates and everything. But it was really nice to move closer to home and having family being able to come whenever they want and watch games, and obviously, being able to come to Prince Albert more and play — even Saskatoon,” Sawchuk said.

Sawchuk came to the Oil Kings to provide offence, and that’s exactly what he did. He led the team with 76 points and 51 assists, while also scoring 25 goals. Sawchuk played most of the year on the top-line with NHL draft-eligible Jake Neighbours, and 16-year-old WHL Rookie of the Year Dylan Guenther.

“It was just an unbelievable experience to play with Jake Neighbours and Guenther and the chemistry we had, it was an unbelievable year all the way,” Sawchuk said. “I was unsure what I was getting myself into at the start, playing with two young guys. I was a little nervous, but it turned out that it was nothing but great.”

As for what’s next for Sawchuk’s career, it’s still up in the air to an extent. He did commit to Mount Royal University in Calgary, but is also exploring the possibility of landing a professional contract.

“I’m really hoping for a pro contract here, whether it’s in the NHL or AHL or whatever. But at this point, COVID has messed things up a little bit. So I’m hoping for the best in that situation,” Sawchuk said. “But other than that, I committed to Mount Royal University in Calgary. So if the pro side of it doesn’t work out, I will go to school.”

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW