It’s been a good season for Estevan Minor Hockey product Cole Fonstad and it’s about to hit the roof.
Fonstad, a 17-year-old forward for the Prince Albert Raiders of the Western Hockey League, scored a goal in the Sherwin-Williams CHL/NHL Top Prospects game in Guelph, Ont. for Team Bobby Orr, an exclusive domain for the country’s best NHL draft eligible players.
It’s a feather in the cap of what has been an enjoyable season for the Estevan product.
“I’ve had a couple of rough patches here and there but I’ve been pretty happy with the way things have been going so far,” said Fonstad from Prince Albert. “I’ve been producing and helping the team win.”
Fonstad has scored 15 goals and 36 assists for 51 points in 49 games so far with the Raiders, both of which are WHL career highs, as he ranks second in team scoring. He scored 11 goals and 15 assists last year as a rookie in 69 games in his first full season.
“I think I wanted to come in and help contribute more offensively,” he said. “I think it was an expectation coming in this year and I think as the year goes on it’s been getting bigger and bigger and I’ve been relied on more and more. I’ve enjoying it.”
The attention he’s been getting from NHL Central Scouting, which has him ranked 78th among North American skaters, hasn’t affected at all the way he’s been preparing for the season.
“I just go everyday and try to work hard,” he said. “Every game I prepare the same way so I don’t think that has any effect on how I want to play or how I’m going to play.”
Fonstad enjoyed the experience of the prospects game, which was part of a few days spent in the Toronto area.
“It was a fun experience to be able to go there and meet everyone and have that exposure and the experience of being in the spotlight all week,” he said. “It was an experience I’ll never forget.”
Some on and off-ice skills testing was rounded out by talks with media and some NHL teams for some of the players.
“It wasn’t too much of a tiring week,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. We got to meet everyone and hung out.”
The season for the Raiders has gone fairly well considering what division they’re in. With 49 points in 49 games, the Raiders are in sixth place but are only four points behind Saskatoon with two games in hand and six behind Regina with three in hand. But the Moose Jaw Warriors have been entrenched in second place in the CHL rankings, and the Swift Current Broncos aren’t far behind them. Also in the division are the Brandon Wheat Kings and the Regina Pats, both of whom have had hot stretches this season.
“I think we’ve just got to win,” he said. “We’re just behind Saskatoon and that’s who we want to catch to go if we want to be in the playoffs at the end of the year. All we’ve got to do is win. It doesn’t matter how we get there, we’ve just got to win.”
