Thrashers showing new look coming of national championship

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This article was published 23/11/2011 (5157 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Officially, they are the defending Canadian midget hockey champions. But for all intents and purposes the Winnipeg Thrashers provincial AAA  squad is a new, young team trying to establish its own identity.

Only four players remain from the team that captured the Telus Cup in Newfoundland last April, a team that was loaded with 17-year-old talent. Sixteen new faces, including four 15-year-olds, are on a roster that has bounced back from a slow start and sits at 13-4-2.

Head coach Dan Eliasson made a conscious decision along with his staff before the season began that they wouldn’t burden the new players with the weight of what last year’s team accomplished.

“Our message to the guys is it’s not your job to defend the national championship,” Eliasson said. “This is a different team. Our job as a group is to make sure we’re defending elements of the program and a pride in the program that helped us win the championship last year.”

The four returnees — captain Ty Bauer, assistant captain Ryan Leaf, Rory Court and Riley Kuryk — have embraced the added responsibility that comes with being part of such a special season.

“They have a leadership role,” Eliasson said. “There’s a big gap between 15-year-olds and 17-year-olds, and those guys almost had a second season last year (in the Thrashers’ deep playoff run).”

The Thrashers draw players from the northwest and northeast parts of the city.

Forward Ryley Lindgren, one of the Thrashers’ 15-year-olds, said the veterans have been leaders by example.

“It’s great to have those guys back,” said the East St. Paul resident. “They know what it takes to get a Telus Cup championship, and that’s what we want to do this year. You definitely know that they won a national championship. You can tell by their work ethic.”

Lindgren echoed his coach’s comments, saying that this group isn’t considering itself to be a defending national champion.

“It’s an honour to play on a team that had such success in the past,” Lindgren said. “But we’re just focusing on this group and this year.”

Despite the obvious changes to the team’s makeup, this edition of the Thrashers has reminded Eliasson of last year’s team.

“The team’s starting to shape up,” said the coach. “We had some struggles early last year, but we got it together around Christmas and had a solid second half.”

Lindgren said the transition to the provincial AAA midget league took some getting used to for many of the players, but the team is beginning to find some strong chemistry.

“We’re really starting to bond as a group,” he said. “I think we’ll have a lot of success in the future.”

avi.saper@canstarnews.com