Remembering Clark, playoff positioning, another gear for Leason

For the full conversation with Kerry, or Friday night’s intermission interview with Wendel at the Art Hauser Centre, see below.

One day before Donn Clark was inducted into the Raiders Wall of Honour, his youngest brother Kerry shared his thoughts on the recognition.

Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, Wendel Clark joined the CKBI broadcast to talk about his brother Donn’s induction into the Raiders Wall of Honour.

Although I never met Donn in person, it’s become clear through conversations with those close to him that he had a huge impact on the Raiders organization and all those he’s worked with over the years. My thoughts go out to his loved ones.

Leason’s second half adversity

One of the biggest stories in the Western Hockey League this year has been the emergence of Raider forward Brett Leason into a bona fide star.

Coming into this season as a relative unknown to those outside Prince Albert, Leason set the league ablaze with an incredible 30-game point streak to start the year. In that run, he scored 28 goals and added 36 assists for 64 points, producing at a rate of just over two points-per-game.

This success created some well-earned opportunities for the Calgary native, including an opportunity to play a key role with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in Vancouver.

As easy as things seemed to come for him in the first half of the season, it’s been a different story in the second half. Leason suffered an upper body injury at the World Juniors, and a lower body injury in Calgary on Feb. 8 that caused him to miss five games.

Altogether, his production has cut in half to one point-per-game since the break with five goals and 20 points in 20 games in 2019. This is still a level of offense that has kept him in eighth-place league-wide, but not the white-hot display we saw before Christmas.

Leason acknowledged that the second-half has been a challenge for him, not only due to injuries but also an increased amount of attention from opposing teams.

“The second half of the season I’m definitely getting keyed on more, keeping a man on me at all times and it’s been harder for me to generate chances,” Leason said.

Despite everything, the potential first-round pick in the upcoming NHL draft is feeling good about the upcoming playoffs.

“I feel like I’m finally through [the injuries] and able to get back on track. Once playoffs begin, we’re all ready to go.”

Head Coach Marc Habscheid has noticed a difference with his forward, and said his production will be a key to the team’s success moving forward.

“He was the engine in the first half that really got us going and since he’s come back from the World Juniors he hasn’t put the same numbers up. We knew he wouldn’t be able to keep up a goal-per-game pace and two points-per-game, but there certainly has been a drastic drop off and his game hasn’t been where it needs to be,” Habscheid said.

“We need to get him back to where he has been heading into the postseason.”

Playoff scenarios

Tuesday’s win over Swift Current clinched the Scotty Munro Trophy for the Raiders as the league’s regular season champions. This is just the second time in franchise history that the team has accomplished this feat, and affords Prince Albert home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

With the top seed in place, the Raiders will face the final wildcard team in the Eastern Conference, which is still up in the air.

Coming into Friday, the Red Deer Rebels and Brandon Wheat Kings are tied for the last playoff spot with 68 points. Medicine Hat holds the top wildcard spot with 70 points, and no other teams appear to be in that conversation as Moose Jaw and Calgary are both eight points ahead, firmly in third place in their respective divisions, and Regina sits 29 points back of Brandon, officially eliminated from playoffs.

Over the final two weekends of the regular season, all three of these teams play each other once. These games will likely go a long way to determining final standings.

Attainable milestones this weekend

Although the all-time franchise marks are out of reach, this year’s Raiders could put themselves into second place with a pair of wins this weekend. The 1985-86 Raiders finished with 52 wins and 107 points, both marks that could potentially be surpassed this weekend.

With one more shutout, Ian Scott would move ahead of both Rejean Beauchemin and Luke Siemens for the most in one season in franchise history.

Attendance up, but room to grow

Heading into the final two home games of the regular season, the average attendance at the Art Hauser Centre is 2587 per night. This is the second-highest number since 2000 and obviously a huge boon for the team.

Having said that, the building’s capacity is 3386, and we haven’t yet seen a complete sellout this year. The attendance has topped 3000 just twice, once on Dec. 8 vs. Brandon [3107] and once on Dec. 28 vs. Saskatoon [3130].

If you’re reading this article and you go to a few games a year, I’m sure you’ve heard somebody say at some point “if we ever get a winning team, the building will be full.”

Well, here we are.

The second-highest attendance of this millenium is certainly a huge step, but wouldn’t it be great to see a couple sellouts to close out the regular season and set the bar for playoffs?

–

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden

by Trevor Redden

Remembering Clark, playoff positioning, another gear for Leason

What's Trending