scamperdog
09-21-2007, 04:38 PM
Leclerc ready to be go-to guy www.kamloopsnews.ca
by Gregg Drinnan
Things couldn’t have worked out much better for Justin Leclerc, who is the Kamloops Blazers’ starting goaltender as they open their WHL regular season tonight.
“That was my goal. That’s why I asked to be moved,” Leclerc, 18, said, sweat dripping from his face after a practice session at Interior Savings Centre. “That’s the mindset I came into camp with. And I’ll be happy to play as many games as they want.”
He is, as he put it, “No. 1 on a great team . . . a potentially great team.”
Fans will get their first look at that team tonight when the franchise’s 27th regular season begins with a game against the Chilliwack Bruins. Game time at The ATM is 7 o’clock.
A month ago, Leclerc didn’t know what was in his future.
He had played two seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes but felt his career starting to get away from him. At the age of 16, Leclerc, who is from Saskatoon, had been considered one of the country’s best goaltenders in his age group. Last season, however, things started to go south and the frustration only got worse when he came down with mononucleosis.
So, thinking he needed a fresh start, Leclerc asked Lethbridge general manager Roy Stasiuk to look at moving him.
Which is how, on Aug. 23, Leclerc ended up with the Blazers, a second-round selection in the 2008 bantam draft going the other way.
The Blazers were looking for a goaltender to offer a challenge to Dustin Butler, who had been acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks in October. Butler was one of four 20-year-olds the Blazers were looking at, knowing all the while they could keep only three.
By the end of the exhibition schedule, Leclerc had shown enough that general manager/head coach Dean Clark chose to trade Butler and install Leclerc as the starter, with James Priestner, a 16-year-old from Edmonton, as the backup.
“It’s exciting when we get down to the last two goalies,” said Leclerc, who has been a goaltender since his second season at the novice level. “Even though it was my plan to come out on top and be the starter . . . it is nice to finally have achieved it.
“Having said that, I’m trying to have the same focus and the same mindset as I did before.”
Being named the go-to guy is the culmination of a journey that began over the summer.
Coming off last season, Leclerc felt something was missing, that his game was incomplete and that he had to do something about it. Which is how he came to spend time with Dr. Kevin Spink of the College of Kinesiology at the U of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
“We worked on a whole range of sports psychology things,” Leclerc said. “Preparation, during games, how to evaluate games . . . we kind of put together a plan for the whole season.”
Leclerc is one of those ultra-competitive people, something that doesn’t mesh well with the part of a goaltender’s skillset that requires a short memory.
“That’s tough for me,” he admits of the need to quickly forget about having been beaten. “There is a technique, though. You have your first automatic reaction of being frustrated and then you correct it in your head . . . you realize what you could have done better.
“And then you refocus on the next play.”
That, he said, “seems pretty simple but it’s something you learn along the way.”
It’s something he also hopes that he doesn’t have to worry too much about this season. And he really is looking forward to playing on a team that promises to have one of the WHL’s top defences.
Looking at that defence, he said, is “kind of mind-boggling.”
“I know from experience,” he added, “that success comes with team success and to have that defence . . . that’s such a key part of any winning team.”
Last season, Butler saw an average of 23 shots per game. At the same time, Leclerc was facing 28 shots per 60 minutes with the Hurricanes. Five shots a game might not seem like a lot, but over the course of an entire season it adds up. And then there is the quality of those shots.
“I’ve played on teams where you get 40 shots a night but they’re all from the outside,” Leclerc explained. “And I’ve played on a team where you get 20, like last season, but they’re coming right up the middle. So it does make a big difference . . .”
For now, though, Leclerc is working hard . . . on the ice and in trying not to look too far down the road.
“I’m not looking ahead, just taking it day by day,” he said. “I’m trying to fit as much work in now as I can because later on, if I am playing a lot of games, I won’t be able to put in the same time.
“It’ll be nice to find a groove. Right now I feel great in practice but you never really have that full confidence until you put a few games behind you.”
by Gregg Drinnan
Things couldn’t have worked out much better for Justin Leclerc, who is the Kamloops Blazers’ starting goaltender as they open their WHL regular season tonight.
“That was my goal. That’s why I asked to be moved,” Leclerc, 18, said, sweat dripping from his face after a practice session at Interior Savings Centre. “That’s the mindset I came into camp with. And I’ll be happy to play as many games as they want.”
He is, as he put it, “No. 1 on a great team . . . a potentially great team.”
Fans will get their first look at that team tonight when the franchise’s 27th regular season begins with a game against the Chilliwack Bruins. Game time at The ATM is 7 o’clock.
A month ago, Leclerc didn’t know what was in his future.
He had played two seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes but felt his career starting to get away from him. At the age of 16, Leclerc, who is from Saskatoon, had been considered one of the country’s best goaltenders in his age group. Last season, however, things started to go south and the frustration only got worse when he came down with mononucleosis.
So, thinking he needed a fresh start, Leclerc asked Lethbridge general manager Roy Stasiuk to look at moving him.
Which is how, on Aug. 23, Leclerc ended up with the Blazers, a second-round selection in the 2008 bantam draft going the other way.
The Blazers were looking for a goaltender to offer a challenge to Dustin Butler, who had been acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks in October. Butler was one of four 20-year-olds the Blazers were looking at, knowing all the while they could keep only three.
By the end of the exhibition schedule, Leclerc had shown enough that general manager/head coach Dean Clark chose to trade Butler and install Leclerc as the starter, with James Priestner, a 16-year-old from Edmonton, as the backup.
“It’s exciting when we get down to the last two goalies,” said Leclerc, who has been a goaltender since his second season at the novice level. “Even though it was my plan to come out on top and be the starter . . . it is nice to finally have achieved it.
“Having said that, I’m trying to have the same focus and the same mindset as I did before.”
Being named the go-to guy is the culmination of a journey that began over the summer.
Coming off last season, Leclerc felt something was missing, that his game was incomplete and that he had to do something about it. Which is how he came to spend time with Dr. Kevin Spink of the College of Kinesiology at the U of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
“We worked on a whole range of sports psychology things,” Leclerc said. “Preparation, during games, how to evaluate games . . . we kind of put together a plan for the whole season.”
Leclerc is one of those ultra-competitive people, something that doesn’t mesh well with the part of a goaltender’s skillset that requires a short memory.
“That’s tough for me,” he admits of the need to quickly forget about having been beaten. “There is a technique, though. You have your first automatic reaction of being frustrated and then you correct it in your head . . . you realize what you could have done better.
“And then you refocus on the next play.”
That, he said, “seems pretty simple but it’s something you learn along the way.”
It’s something he also hopes that he doesn’t have to worry too much about this season. And he really is looking forward to playing on a team that promises to have one of the WHL’s top defences.
Looking at that defence, he said, is “kind of mind-boggling.”
“I know from experience,” he added, “that success comes with team success and to have that defence . . . that’s such a key part of any winning team.”
Last season, Butler saw an average of 23 shots per game. At the same time, Leclerc was facing 28 shots per 60 minutes with the Hurricanes. Five shots a game might not seem like a lot, but over the course of an entire season it adds up. And then there is the quality of those shots.
“I’ve played on teams where you get 40 shots a night but they’re all from the outside,” Leclerc explained. “And I’ve played on a team where you get 20, like last season, but they’re coming right up the middle. So it does make a big difference . . .”
For now, though, Leclerc is working hard . . . on the ice and in trying not to look too far down the road.
“I’m not looking ahead, just taking it day by day,” he said. “I’m trying to fit as much work in now as I can because later on, if I am playing a lot of games, I won’t be able to put in the same time.
“It’ll be nice to find a groove. Right now I feel great in practice but you never really have that full confidence until you put a few games behind you.”