Great Scott garners gold; Mappin pumped to be in P.A.

“Probably I’ll remember this experience for a long time,” said Scott. The Raider rookie also felt he learned a great deal during his first taste of international hockey.

“I felt it was actually a little faster (than the WHL), some of the players were craftier with the puck, a little smarter, but overall I knew I could keep up, and that’s what I kept in my head.”

While Scott has set goals of making the Canadian under-18 and National junior teams, he is happy to be back in Prince Albert. He’s focused on building on an excellent start to the season, which has seen him post a 5-1 record with 1 shutout, a 2.58 goals against average and a save percentage of .917.

Scott has the 8th best goals against average in the WHL and is ranked 10th in save percentage.

Meanwhile Ty Mappin put on a Raiders practice jersey for the first time Monday with all the anxiety and anticipation that comes with joining a new team. The 19-year-old forward started the season with the Drumheller Dragons of the AJHL, getting 4 goals and 19 assists in 22 games.

Mappin was the first round selection of the Everett Silvertips in the 2011 WHL bantam draft, one spot ahead of the Raiders’ Reid Gardiner.

However, Mappin has had a challenging WHL career with 6 goals and 12 assists in 68 games with the Silvertips and Saskatoon Blades. The Red Deer native admits his skating needs work but feels he can contribute as a play maker and has learned an important lesson from the adversity.

“You kind of have to take it day by day,” Mappin said, who added he is staying positive and persistent.

“You can’t get down on yourself you just have to keep trying to get better every day. I’ve worked hard and hopefully it will pay off now and I think this will be a good fit.”

Mappin is excited about this new opportunity and got a good first impression from general manager Curtis Hunt and head coach Marc Habscheid.

“They seem like they are really down to earth people, they’re easy to talk to, they have an open door mentality which is nice, you don’t see that too often so yeah, I can’t say enough good things about them.”

Habscheid said Mappin arrival is timely with the injury to forward Cal Babych.

“He’ll (Babych) be week to week, he’s not going to be day to day. It’s unfortunate, he’s played well for us. He got nicked up in Moose Jaw (Saturday) and won’t be available for the next couple of games for sure.”

Habscheid indicated Mappin’s performance and his response to a new challenge will dictate how and where he will fit into the Raider lineup.

After hosting Saskatoon Friday the Raiders take on the Wheat Kings Sunday in Brandon.

They are tied with Red Deer for the lead in the Eastern conference and two points ahead of the second place Wheat Kings in the Eastern division.

dwilson@panow.com

OnTwitter: @RaidersVoice

by Drew Wilson

Great Scott garners gold; Mappin pumped to be in P.A.

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