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Morrisseau has Manitoba support

ROB VANSTONE

The Regina Pats’ Koby Morrisseau hopes that his parents will have a grand view of his next big game.

Several members of the Morrisseau family are to make the twohour trek from Grandview, Man., to Brandon, where the Pats oppose the Wheat Kings on Wednesday night.

The 17-year-old centre is coming off his finest of 43 WHL games — a one-goal, two-assist outing in Sunday’s 4-1 road victory over the Calgary Hitmen.

“I couldn’t have done it without my linemates,” Morrisseau said before the Pats practised at the Brandt Centre on Tuesday.

“It was a good step for me and Bryan Lockner and Robbie Holmes. We stepped it up and showed the coaches what we can do with our abilities.”

Morrisseau registered his first multi-point game in the WHL, posting a plus-3 along the way.

Lockner, with one goal and an assist, had his second three-pointer in the major-junior ranks — having notched three assists in a game last season. He was plus-4 on Sunday.

Holmes, who added an assist, was plus-3. He finished the contest with 10 points this season. Lockner has eight and Morrisseau has five.

“I feel more confident,” Morrisseau said, “but you’ve just got to keep that going forward and start producing every night.”

That is what the Pats want to see from Morrisseau, who was acquired from the Spokane Chiefs on June 15.

Regina also received a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft.

In return, the Pats surrendered a fourth-rounder in either 2019 or 2020, and a conditional thirdrounder in 2020.

“We thought it was relatively low-risk, for draft picks that were down the road and with conditions on them regarding his health,” Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock said.

Morrisseau sustained two concussions as a rookie with Spokane last season. After the second concussion, suffered Dec. 13, the Chiefs opted to shut him down for the remainder of the season.

Given a chance to return to the ice, Morrisseau has been concussion-free as a Pat.

“It’s kind of relieving, playing half a season without anything like that,” he said. “It’s pretty fun to play here and I like it a lot.”

Paddock liked what he saw leading up to the 2015 bantam draft, in which Morrisseau was chosen in the first round (ninth overall).

“When you’re drafted that high, you’re probably on everybody in the league’s draft list for the first round or maybe within seven or eight spots of that,” Paddock said. “Everybody’s list varies a little bit. I know where he was on our list. He was thought of as a good player.

“From there, it’s just the process. Was he just a good player then because he was bigger than everybody else? How much have these injuries hurt him, with his first year in Spokane and the concussions? There are so many factors that go into it.

“Hopefully he can keep improving to give us a good enough player for this year and, with us losing a lot of players (to graduation), he needs to be high in the lineup next year, behind (Jake) Leschyshyn at centre ice. That would be really good.”

The weekend road trip to Alberta was a good sign. Morrisseau helped the Pats defeat the Red Deer Rebels 4-2 on Friday. Then came Sunday’s game, in which the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder registered three of his seven points as a WHLer.

“What he has shown the last couple of games is probably closer to what everybody in the Western junior world thought when he was drafted,” Paddock noted.

“He has a lot of ability. He has size. He just needs to keep figuring the game out, as we saw a glimpse of the other day.”

Wednesday’s meeting with the Wheat Kings will mark the conclusion of an eight-game road stretch for the Pats (15-12-2-0).

They won one of five games while barnstorming through the U.S. Division before notching back-toback victories this past weekend.

The Pats begin a five-game home stand Friday against the Kelowna Rockets. Regina will then play host to the Medicine Hat Tigers (Saturday), Kamloops Blazers (Dec. 13), Saskatoon Blades (Dec. 15) and Lethbridge Hurricanes (Dec. 16). All games are set for 7 p.m.

What he has shown the last couple of games is probably closer to what everybody in the Western junior world thought when he was drafted.