THIS PAT’S DOING WELL
Team’s in a slump, but Christoffer helps fight it.
Braden Christoffer doesn’t mean to sound greedy.
It’s not that the 18-yearold WHL rookie isn’t grateful for his recent offensive breakthrough. It’s just that he has a hard time enjoying any personal success while the Regina Pats are enduring their worst slump of the campaign.
“It’s a way better feeling when you’re having personal success and the team is doing well,” said Christoffer, who has four goals and two assists in the past 10 games after recording just five assists in his first 38 contests. “Usually when each individual has success the team is better. It just helps (everyone).”
Christoffer’s recent contributions haven’t translated to the win column for the Pats, nor is he the kind of player who would be expected to carry the team. The checking-line winger has embraced his unsung role as an energy player who does the kind of dirty work that doesn’t always get noticed outside of his own dressing room. Until now. “I’ve just been battling hard every day, working to get better,” he explained. “I guess pucks have been finding their way to the back of the net.”
In the process, Christoffer has found himself in the good graces of head coach Pat Conacher, who likes what he sees from the gritty forward.
“How can you not?” said the Pats’ bench boss. “He’s a meat and potatoes guy. He bangs, he fights. He’s (always) the same guy. At the end of the day he’s being rewarded for hard work and keeping it simple. He has been going north-south. He goes to the net with and without the puck and he shows up to play every night.”
Although Christoffer has embraced his role, it doesn’t mean he’s satisfied with it.
A fourth-liner for much of the season, he was promoted to the third unit in Wednesday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors. Christoffer took advantage of the opportunity by scoring his fourth goal of the season, a marker which he hopes will help him continue the upward trend.
“There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “That’s the goal but I still keep in mind my role as a checker and as a physical guy. But to incorporate some offence is nice.
“It’s paramount for the secondary scoring on the team to be good. Some nights your top guys aren’t going as well. When we’re on a streak like this it’s the lower guys who have to step up and help the team as much as the other guys.”
While awaiting a return to form by his top guns, Conacher hopes to see more of the same from Christoffer, noting that his recent contributions are similar to what players like Trent Ouellette and Tanner Olstad brought to last year’s team.
“All of a sudden they figured out ‘I’m valuable as a third- and fourth-line guy’ — embrace that role and you get rewarded for that,” added the head coach. “At this age young guys get misled because they’ve come from somewhere where they’ve been the power-play guy and all that type of stuff. Now they’re getting to an age and a league where this is what you have to work on as your identity. If you do that you’ll get rewarded and if you keep working on your game you may move up that ladder. Braden is getting the chance because of it.”