After a career season as the St. Albert Steel’s most valuable player, Taylor Fraser believes the best is still to come.
“I want to do better than I did last year,” an upbeat Fraser told the Gazette at the Steel’s training camp Monday. “But I definitely can’t take anything for granted. I’ve got to work just as hard, if not harder, this year.”
His 67 points in 60 games tied for sixth place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League scoring race. The powerfully built right-winger also shared second spot in goals scored with 35, three fewer than the league high, and led the Steel’s special teams in power play (14) and shorthanded (two) goals.
“The change in role I played and my effort was definitely a lot different last year than before,” Fraser said. “That was probably the first time I had the opportunity to be on the first or second line all the time. I was on the power play and I was killing penalties too.”
Fraser, 20, skates into his fourth and final AJHL season with 57 goals and 58 assists in 175 career games.
“It’s weird definitely knowing it’s not only your fourth year but it’s also your last year. You still have to approach it the same as any other year. You’ve got to work hard and you can’t take anything for granted,” he said. “If I lead by example, I think the guys will follow.”
Fraser also needs five games to surpass Bryce Williamson’s team record for most games played.
“I haven’t really thought about it too much, but if anything, it’s an honour. He’s the all-time guy,” said the former captain of the midget AAA St. Albert Raiders. “I’ve been lucky enough to play my entire career so far in my hometown, which is awesome.”
Leading up to the start of tryouts this week, Fraser trained four times a week for the upcoming season.
“I’m approaching it with a positive attitude. I’m excited, that’s for sure,” he said. “Everyone has got the itch. We’ve got a lot of young guys coming through so it’s going to be exciting this year.”
The Steel have nowhere to go but up in their fifth, and possibly last, season in St. Albert. In 2010/11, the Steel finished in the seventh and last playoff spot in the north division with 26 wins and 55 points in 60 games as the fourth-worst defensive team in the AJHL. They staggered into the playoffs with only three points in their last 10 games while going 1-8-1.
In the playoffs, the Steel were swept by the Fort McMurray Oil Barons for the second straight year. The Steel have never advanced past the best-of-five opening round in their short history and are 3-12 overall in the postseason.
The best season in team history was 29 wins and 65 points for sixth place in 2008/09.
“I would like to win a little more,” Fraser said. “If we win more, we’re going to have more fans in the arena. It will make it a lot easier for the team to play as opposed to coming in here and having to battle every night. We should have an advantage in our own rink and that’s a big goal for us this year. We want to win a couple more games than we used to and get the fans out. If we do that, we’ll have a better season.”
ICE CHIPS: The Drive For Five campaign, launched June 20 to sell 500 season tickets, has generated only 75 sales. Season tickets have dropped drastically from 454 in the Steel’s inaugural campaign to 117 last season.
The first of eight exhibition games for the Steel is Friday against the Sherwood Park Crusaders at 5 p.m. at Performance Arena. They also host the Camrose Kodiaks at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
