The Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Prince Albert Raiders are in a transition season where the club has welcomed many young players to the fold.
With that mindset comes a focus of putting the new skaters in positions where they can be successful. Estevan’s Cole Fonstad is one of these rookie recruits.
The 16-year-old centre/right wing has suited up in 28 games for the Raiders (6-23-1) this season scoring five goals and tallying eight points while mostly playing on the third and fourth line as well as the second power play unit.
“It started off very small,” said Fonstad, who was picked fifth overall by the Raiders in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. “You got to work your way up being a young guy in this league, so I started just playing fourth line, not very many minutes each game, but as the year goes on I think the coaches are starting to trust me more and I’m getting more opportunity and for the most part I’m making the most of it.”
Fonstad said fellow 16-year-olds Spencer Moe and Carson Miller as well as 17-year-old centre Parker Kelly have regularly seen duty alongside him this season. He said the group is not very big, but they’re smart, fast and skilled with a goal on creating energy for the team and scoring opportunities for themselves.
Marc Habscheid, head coach of the Raiders, said when Fonstad, Moe and Miller are together they are put in positions that allow them to evolve as players. He said they don’t match up against the other team’s top lines or against guys who have played in the NHL or at the World Junior Championships because the team’s focus is to put them in spots where they’ll have success.
“It’s important that you develop them properly and don’t rush them,” said Habscheid, noting their roles and minutes change on home ice compared to games on the road. “Give them challenges, but not too much. So, it’s a balancing act. You give them what you have. You work with them so that they improve and get better.”
Habscheid said Fonstad earned his place on the team through training camp where the former Estevan TS&M bantam AA Bruins and Moose Jaw midget AAA Generals standout notched one goal and three points in five pre-season games. He said when they drafted him they were looking for an offensive player and that is exactly what he brings.
“He’s a skilled guy,” he said. “We don’t score a lot of goals (and) we don’t expect him to get 50 this year, but he can learn the league, get adjusted to the league and help chip in.”
Fonstad potted his first WHL goal in the Raiders fifth game of the season. He scored it 5:35 into the third period of a 5-3 loss to the Portland Winterhawks at Prince Albert’s home Art Hauser Centre.
“It was just kind of a turnover at the offensive blueline and then I had a little bit of a one-on-one and I took it wide and threw it at the net and it smacked off the goalie,” said Fonstad. “I think I jumped around a little bit (afterwards). I don’t know what I was doing really. I didn’t really know what was happening. It was pretty cool.”
The 5-foot-10 and 161-pound rookie has been balancing his workload with the Raiders this season with his other full-time job of being a Grade 11 student. He said the secondary school age players attend Carlton Comprehensive Public High School, which is beside the Art Hauser Centre, during the first three periods of each weekday morning on non-game days to earn three credits a semester before hitting the ice for a two-hour practice in the afternoon followed by a session in the gym.
“Most game days, if it’s a home game, we’ll go to school until 11:30 and then we’ll usually have a meeting at the rink around 12 and then we go home in the afternoon and get a nap in so we’re ready to play,” he said. “It’s a lot of missing (class) and a lot of homework on the road.”
Habscheid said being a 16 year old in the WHL is tough, but they’re doing their best to nurture their rookie forward into becoming the offensive threat they want him to be while also playing each shift at a high level. He said Fonstad, like any other young players in the league, just has to get better, bigger, stronger and faster to make the goal a reality.
“I (want) to become a more complete player and then, obviously, put up some points by the end of the year (and get) the coaches to trust my abilities both offensively and defensively,” said Fonstad. “Coming in next year as a second-year player, I want to get more opportunity. It’ll be a big year for me, so hopefully I can do that.”
