Rookie rearguards making strides on Cougars’ blueline
Jack Sander could not have picked a better goalie to expose for the first goal of his WHL career.
It was against the ever-stingy Carter Hart of the Everett Silvertips, now the go-to guy for Canada’s world junior team – who has allowed just 22 goals in 17 games for the Silvertips this season.
For the rookie Sander, a 17-year-old defenceman from Beaumont, Alta., that goal Nov. 10 at CN Centre was a huge one. It tied the game 3-3 with 4:40 left in the third period, setting the stage for teammate Jared Bethune, who ended it with the only goal in the shootout.
“I just got the pass up (from Josh Maser) and just put it on net and it went five-hole, I think, on Hart – pretty sweet goalie to get your first one on,” said Sander.
Through 35 games, Sander has that one goal, four penalty minutes and a minus-6 ranking, respectable totals considering this is his first season of junior hockey. The Cougars added him to their protected list after watching him perform for the Leduc Oil Barons at last year’s Mac’s midget tournament in Calgary. He put up three goals and 11 points in 34 regular-season games for the Oil Barons and had two goals and seven points in 14 playoff games. A strong showing in training camp in August proved the six-foot-one, 175-pound Sander was ready to make the jump to the WHL.
“On my midget team in Leduc I got icetime all the time, I was on power play and penalty kill, and here I’ve got to know my role and just get the shifts I get and work with what I’ve got,” said Sander
“Speed is the biggest thing. You’ve got guys like (Matthew) Phillips or Dillon (Dube) coming down (the ice) and you’ve got to be able to play with them and if you don’t you just sit on the bench. You know you’re coming in against the top guys and you know you have to do your job.”
Sander plays the left side paired with Cole Moberg, another 17-year WHL rookie. They’re among seven defencemen the Cougars have on the roster. Sander is more the stay-at-home defence-first type, while Moberg seems to have more of an offensive upside and is more likely to take off with the puck. But don’t be surprised to see Sander leading rushes as he becomes more comfortable in his own abilities.
“There’s a lot of people on this team and in this organization I can learn from, whether it’s (Josh) Anderson, learning how to be physical, or guys like (Dennis) Cholowski stepping up into the play and making those evasive moves, you can learn something from everyone,” said Sander.
Breaking into the league has been easier for the rookie pair under the influence of coaches Richard Matvichuk and Shawn Chambers, who both had long NHL careers and played as defencemen on Stanley Cupwinning teams.
“They’ve been through it all and know what it takes and it shows that we need to trust them – if they tell us something to do, that’s what we have to do,” said Moberg. “They’re good guys to be around. Even after a loss, they rip us around a little bit, but you know it’s going to be the best for us.”
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Through 37 games this season in the WHL the six-foot-two, 190-pound Moberg has two goals and four assists, 16 penalty minutes and carries a minus-four rating into tonight’s game at CN Centre against the Tri-City Americans.
Moberg has been on the Cougars’ radar since he landed on the team’s protected list in the fall of 2015 and he signed with the Cats the following year. He got to know his Cougar teammates well last season, spending more than three months with the team while also playing close to his home in North Vancouver for the major midget Vancouver Northwest Giants.
“Just being up here around the guys last year was very helpful, I was up here all of September, all of November and all of February and then after my season (with the Giants),” said Moberg, who scored his first goal in November 2016 in his second WHL game, in Vancouver.
“It takes a couple games to get used to the speed of passing and the speed of everyone’s skating but once you do get used to it, it just feels like normal,” he said.
Last season in 20 regular-season games for the Giants Moberg had eight goals and 13 points. In five playoff games he collected a goal and three assists. He was thrust into a regular role with the Cougars in early October, picking up the slack when Anderson separated his shoulder and missed 14 games.
“When Anderson was out he probably played more minutes than he should have, but that gave that added experience and he’s settled more into his comfort zone knowing once Josh was back we limit their minutes according to who they’re playing against,” said Matvichuk.
“He’s been playing well. We obviously know how he can skate and see the ice and his offensive ability is really good so it’s a matter of finding that bit of a bite in the defensive zone and playing defence first. With the way he skates, he’s going to be able to jump into the play and make offensive plays just from his awareness.”
Matvichuk says Sander’s instinctive ability to make the right play belies his youth and lack of major junior experience and that sets him up well for a long WHL career.
“Jack’s just a smart hockey player, he needs to get bigger and stronger but that will come with age,” said Matvichuk. “He has hockey sense that you can’t teach – where the stick should be, how to play 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2. Those are hard things to teach defencemen, but to have that already for what he does at his age, the future is really bright.”
One other rookie blueliner on the Cougars’ blueline, Jonas Harkins, who turned 17 on Dec. 26, returned to action Saturday against the Vancouver Giants after missing a month with a concussion. Harkins picked up an assist in the Cougars’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Giants on Monday.