Cootes speaks on winning Most Sportsmanlike Player

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Often recognized as one of the best two-way players in the league, Cootes didn’t get the chance to chase after other awards like Forward of the Year or the league’s scoring title. Between starting the season in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks and spending a whole month of the season at the World Juniors, Cootes missed about a third of the WHL season; however, this award still honours him for the high level of play he’s brought to the team and the league.

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“I wasn’t here the whole year, so it’s a little tougher to get the big awards, but for them to recognize me with this… I take pride in not taking a lot of bad penalties and stuff like that, so it’s nice. So yeah, I’m honoured.” 

Even though he only played 45 games out of 68 this year, Cootes was one of the league’s most dangerous forwards as he finished tied for 12th in the league when it came to points-per-game (1.40), along with only eight penalty minutes. Cootes keeps his calm on the ice when situations get tense, and he credits his former coaches and his dad for teaching him to remember there’s a bigger picture in those tense situations. 

“It’s kind of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Just understanding that there’s a time and a place, you never want to go on the penalty kill when you’re playing good teams because it hurts you, there’s a good chance they could score, you have one less guy on the ice, so you don’t want to do that.” 

Cootes and the rest of the Raiders are getting set for a third-round series against the Medicine Hat Tigers. Although he was not a part of it, Cootes and the rest of this year’s newcomers know the Raiders were swept in the second round last year, and they’re excited to start the revenge tour on Friday. 

“We’re super excited. It feels like a while since we’ve played a game since we swept the last series, so we’ve been really ready to go. We’ve had lots of practice time, which is always good, and a good rest too in the playoffs, you can never get enough of that. I know I wasn’t here last year, but we obviously lost to them, so we’ve got a lot of energy going into the series, and we’re looking to have a good one.” 

The Raiders were the Eastern Conference nominees for the Business of the Year Award in the WHL this year, but lost out to Portland. There are still five other awards the Raiders could receive this year: 

• Daxon Rudolph for Defenceman of the Year 

• Brock Cripps for Rookie of the Year 

• Michal Orsulak for Goaltender of the Year 

• Head Coach Ryan McDonald for Coach of the Year 

• General Manager Curtis Hunt for Executive of the Year 

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com