Just when reinforcements seemed to be on the horizon, the Saskatoon Blades received some bad news. Forward Mason McCarty, out since late November with a knee injury, had a setback in rehab, delaying his return by another three to four weeks.
All head coach Dean Brockman can do at this point is shrug his shoulders.
“We’re kinda used to it, you know. We’re not … you know, we’re just waiting for the next bad thing to happen, and accept it and move on,” Brockman said.
McCarty’s extended absence is par for the course in a season that’s seen the Blades hit hard by injuries to many of their top forwards.
Cameron Hebig, who led the team with 26 goals in 2015-16, has missed the entire season with an upper body injury.
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Ryan Graham, who scored 22 times last season, sat out the first five weeks of the current campaign and was largely ineffective when he returned before being traded to Swift Current in November.
Markson Bechtold, acquired from the Spokane Chiefs just before Christmas, played just three games before being sidelined with a back problem and has yet to return to the lineup. Even Jesse Shynkaruk, who made the team as a training camp walk-on and currently sits second on the club with 31 points, missed 13 games at one point.
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But if there’s a silver lining to all that adversity, it’s that it’s given the Blades’ younger players a chance to prove they’re ready to take on a bigger role. Some, like 16-year-old rookie Michael Farren, are taking full advantage of that chance.
“It was really hard at the start, (I) kind of adapted to the speed. But now that it’s kind of halfway past December, it’s getting a little bit easier, I find,” he said.
Brockman agrees.
“I hadn’t seen him before (this season) and right from camp on, you could just tell the skill set that he had and his thought process. He’s a very intelligent offensive type of player.”
Farren has 20 points in 37 games this season, and his 15 assists are second on the team. Those are solid numbers for any WHL rookie, but they’re even more impressive given the fact Farren was never drafted out of bantam, which he admits has given him added motivation in his first full season of junior.
“You kinda got a little bit of extra spice in you, that you didn’t get drafted and it doesn’t really, I mean now, it doesn’t mean much,” he said.
While injuries have played a big role in giving Farren more ice time in more important situations, it’s one thing to get an opportunity and another to take advantage of it, and the Surrey, B.C. native is rewarding Brockman for giving him more responsibility.
In Saskatoon’s last three games, all victories, Farren recorded two goals and three assists, helping his team move into playoff position for the first time since early in the season.
“He’s making huge strides, just with learning the game, playing the right way. He catches on real quickly to a lot of things and he’s had the luxury of being in the right spot,” Brockman said.
As Farren continues to develop, his current success could well prove to be just the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s nerve-wracking at the start, that’s for sure, but now I’m really happy that I went this route.”
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