Home is where the heart is for Kyle Scaber after stops in Fort McMurray and Sherwood Park in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
“It’s definitely nice to play back in my hometown,” said the St. Albert Steel defenceman. “We have a great place to play in St. Albert with this rink [at Servus Credit Union Place]. Hopefully we get enough fans out. That would make it even better.”
Scaber broke into the AJHL last year with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons and closed out the season with the Sherwood Park Crusaders.
“Living at home is definitely real great. It’s a lot more comfortable. It’s a two-minute drive to the rink every day and I get to see all my friends come out to the games,” said the former midget AA St. Albert Crusader.
In the summer the Steel picked up Scaber and goaltender Ty Swabb from Sherwood Park for future considerations. The 19-year-old blueliner scored once and added 10 assists in 31 games with the Oil Barons and notched one assist in 14 games with the Crusaders.
“In Fort McMurray, basically all there is to do up there is hockey. Obviously the program they run is real tight. It’s one of the top-notch programs. I got a lot of confidence playing up there,” Scaber said. “I definitely learned a lot under the coaching of Gord Thibodeau. He taught me to be tight in my own end and really made me find the game I like to play. He made me find my identity.”
At the Jan. 10 trade deadline, the Crusaders sent forward Josh Lee to the Oil Barons for Scaber and future considerations.
“It was nice to play there, too. They gave me a decent opportunity,” Scaber said. “I was already used to kind of moving around through my minor hockey career because I had to move out of St. Albert a couple of times.”
In 45 games overall, Scaber collected 12 points and served 64 minutes in penalties.
“I was happy with how my season went,” he said. “I never really realized what kind of defenceman I was until last season. I was never like a really great physical defenceman and I never put up lots and lots of points, but I kind of found my identity as a puck moving, stay-at-home defenceman type of guy who can play both ways. It shaped my identity as someone who can make the break-out passes and make the plays that needed to happen.”
Scaber is anxious to make an impact with the Steel.
“Obviously I have a year under my belt so I know how I need to play and how I need to show up and perform every night. I want to make sure I’m really consistent and just be a key player on the team.”
The Steel opened the 60-game schedule last week in Olds and were outshot 47-21 in the 3-2 loss.
“It was our first game and we only had a week of practicing systems and having the final team together so it was a little scrambly. We couldn’t get it together in the first period and we got down early, but after not playing 20 minutes to our fullest we still came back and lost by one goal,” Scaber said. “It was good to see that some of the rookie players were kind of leading the way for us, which wasn’t one of the things we wanted to happen, but it was good to see that they could make a good impact for us.”
ICE CHIPS: Tonight the Steel visit the Grande Prairie Storm (0-2).
The next game is Tuesday in Drayton Valley against the Thunder (0-1).
The Steel’s home opener was Friday against Sherwood Park (2-0), but the score was unavailable at press time.
