Ramsay returns to his hockey roots after trade to Blades
Gage Ramsay is happy to be home to hone his Western Hockey League skills.
“Very excited,” Ramsay was saying before making his home debut Wednesday with the Saskatoon Blades against the Spokane Chiefs.
“Just very excited to play at home. I think I can add a good offensive presence and bring work (ethic) and energy to the rink every day.”
Ramsay, an 18-year-old forward, was acquired this past week from the Vancouver Giants as the Giants and Blades swapped hometown forwards.
While Josh Bruce stayed in Langley, B.C., during the Blades’ British Columbia road trip, Ramsay hopped on the Blades’ bus and returned home to Saskatoon. The trade made sense to both sides.
“For us, we add a guy from Saskatoon and they add a guy from Vancouver and we’ll swap them,” offered Blades head coach Dean Brockman.
“Gage has speed. He has some skill to him that certainly can help our group and I’ve always liked him since he was a bantam. We’ll find out if we can sort of refresh his career a little bit.”
Last season, Ramsay had three goals in 37 games with the Giants before returning to his home province to play for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Notre Dame Hounds.
“It was just personal reasons, stuff going on,” he said of his return home last season.
“I just needed to improve on my game. I wasn’t ready for the Western League at the time. Going back down and playing games in the SJ gave me the chance to really improve on my game and work on what I needed to get better at.”
He had one assist in six games with the Giants this season after collecting two assists in four preseason games.
The 5-foot-9, 165-pound Ramsay was a third-round WHL Bantam Draft pick, 50th overall, in 2013.
“I love the team,” Ramsay said of the Blades.
“We’ve really got a good group going on in the dressing room and everything. I like the compete our team has. Every game we’ve played so far, everybody’s playing to win and wants to win. That’s what I like about playing here.”
Spokane entered Wednesday’s WHL contest against Saskatoon with the No. 6 power play in the league, operating at a 24.5 per cent clip.
The Blades came in with the No. 8-ranked penalty kill, with an 80 per cent efficiency.
“The good thing is it challenges our guys to be better,” Brockman said of the Chiefs’ potent power play.
“The penalty kill has been very good. Especially on the trip, it’s been good.”
Spokane came into Saskatoon with a 4-6-1-1 record.
“Up front, they’ve got some guys who are just ready to break out, unfortunately,” noted Brockman before the game.
“They’re pretty stingy (defensively). They’re pretty aggressive. They’ll come at you. Right now, they’re still in that stage where they’re ready to erupt. The couple of games I looked at, they were right there and could have won them. It’s kind of like us, just waiting to break out.”