Pats’ Schioler positioned for success
Liam Schioler is taking one step forward and another step back for the Regina Pats.
The 20-year-old defenceman made his first official WHL appearance as a forward on Saturday night when Regina was shorthanded up front for a 6-5 win over the Saskatoon Blades.
Although the move was temporary, Schioler is quite willing to do it again if required.
“I honestly don’t know (what the plan is),” said the six-foottwo, 193-pounder. “We’ll see what (head coach) Dave (Struch) has in mind but, whatever he throws my way, I’m ready for it.”
Schioler does not consider himself a natural winger by any means.
He estimates he hasn’t played forward since his early minor hockey days — somewhere between six and eight years old.
“Last year, I got to play a bit of net-front power play,” he recalled. “But other than that I’ve never played forward (in the WHL). I’ve always been a D -man.”
That’s unlikely to change, but the Pats were happy with his performance nonetheless. He played the left side on Regina’s third line with Riley Krane and Duncan Pierce.
“Liam did great,” said assistant coach Brad Herauf. “Liam is a big guy who can skate. He’s aggressive. He does a real good job on the forecheck. He can turn over pucks. He can be a menace once the puck goes into the corner and he’s coming down on you. In the limited time he did play, I think he did a fantastic job.”
Despite the positive reviews, Schioler admitted it was a bit of a strange experience. One of the first things he noticed was you expend more energy on the wing.
“I don’t want to say you don’t work as hard (as a defenceman),” he said. “But I notice on the blueline you’re kind of standing there (at times). You have your opportunity to get a little bit of rest. When you’re on forward, you’re doing a lot of up-and-down skating. It’s definitely more tiring. Once I got used to it I was fine but you definitely feel it.”
It’s generally considered easier to go from the back end to forward than vice versa because of the defensive nuances. Still, it was a big change for Schioler.
“It’s obviously a challenge playing a new position because you don’t have your usual tendencies,” said the stay-at-home defender, who has one goal in 15 games. “It was weird seeing the game from a different perspective like that. My tendency is to stay back, especially in the offensive zone. I had to remind myself that I could go in and forecheck and try to get the puck back. I had to constantly think what to do (positionally). When I’m playing D, I know what I’m doing. It’s already embedded in my head.”
That said, Schioler began to think more like a forward as the game wore on.
“Those things kind of just come as you get going,” he added. “I feel like I got more comfortable as the game went on.”
The Pats have done some experimenting with their defencemen this season because the team has more depth on the back end. Forwards Koby Morrisseau (concussion) and Robbie Holmes (knee) are not expected back soon, so the juggling act is likely to continue.
“We do have a lot of younger guys up front that are being asked to play a lot more minutes than generally is asked of kids that age,” added Herauf, whose team plays host to the Tri-city Americans on Friday. “We’re just trying to tinker, twist and change anything that we can possibly do to give us the 20 best players that are going to help us win.”