The Prince Albert Raiders are having an amazing season in the Western Hockey League (WHL), thanks in part to Brett Leason.
The 19-year-old winger, from Calgary, has nearly tripled his points total from last season.
Leason finished the 2017-18 regular season with 33 points in 66 games.
In the last off-season, he got serious and took control of his hockey destiny.
“I came into the season prepared, ready to go from day one and it showed,” Leason said.
“Just getting off to a hot start, the big point streak I had at the start, but the team helped me a lot along the way and so has the coaching staff. They have been there since day one, and it’s been great.”
Even though he missed some games attending the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championship tournament in B.C., Leason will enter his 54th game this WHL season on Friday with 89 points.
“The Brett Leason story is really good for Brett Leason, but it’s even better for all 19-year-olds that have gone through the (NHL) draft … and think that their hockey career is over. It’s not over. It’s just beginning,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said.
“When you don’t make the team or get drafted, you can get bitter or get better and Brett Leason decided to get better and now he gets to reap the rewards because of it.”
Prince Albert currently has the second highest points in the Canadian Hockey League with 110, following the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies with 115.
The Raiders and the Saskatoon Blades will finish off the regular season with a home-and-home series this weekend before their individual playoff campaigns begin.