The first day of the St. Albert Steel’s training camp felt like Christmas morning for Ryan Wilkinson.
“I couldn’t wait for this day to arrive,” the 19-year-old defenceman said with a smile, prior to hitting the ice Monday at Performance Arena. “I was excited to get going as soon as we lost out last year in the playoffs. I just wanted to get going right way.”
Swept in three straight games by the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, the sixth-place finishers in the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s north division will attempt to win more games than last season in their bid to advance past the opening playoff round for the first time in franchise history in St. Albert.
“We’ve got a really good team coming in, especially from a defencemen’s perspective. I think this will be the strongest defensive core that we’ve had on the Steel coming into a season. I’m really excited,” said Wilkinson, a St. Albert resident who joined the Steel two months into their inaugural 2007/08 campaign from the midget AAA KC Pats.
On the back end, the AJHL’s third-worst defensive team sees the return of 19-year-old defenders Dane Olsen (eight points in 46 games), Jordan Abt (four assists in 52 games as the team’s 2009 rookie of the year) and Jesse Altheim (two assists, 90 PIM in 30 games after going 1-2-3 in 24 games with the Canmore Eagles).
“The way our team is built this year we’re going to be a lot stronger defensively,” Wilkinson said. “I want to work on that plus/minus and the goals against so it’s better than last year.”
Wilkinson led all Steel defencemen in scoring with 23 points, on three goals and 20 assists in 56 games.
“I’ve got to thank my D partner, Jesse Altheim. He helped me out a lot and kind of pushed me,” Wilkinson said. “My coach, Shawn Martin [in charge of the defencemen], really helped me turn around my season too.”
For the bulk of the second half of the season, Wilkinson was paired with Altheim, a willing scrapper who will help fill a void with enforcer Ryan Edens graduating to the college ranks.
“We started off a little slow together but then we really got going. He just let me play my game. He would take care of everything he had to do to on his side of the ice and that let me play my game, which really helped me flourish,” said Wilkinson.
The former bantam AAA Notre Dame Hound is coming off an injury-free season after a broken collarbone in 2008/09 limited him to 32 games, resulting in one goal and 17 assists.
“It was great to get the body going and play a full season,” said the five-foot-10, 165-pound skater. “It definitely starts to wear on you at the end of the year, but it gets you more prepared as you get older in terms of going to higher levels.
“To get ready for season I got out to as many skates with the Steel as I could in the summer. I also hit the weights and worked out with my trainer [at Body by Bennett].”
Expectations are high for Wilkinson as the Steel’s go-to guy on the blueline.
“If I can improve this year I’ve done good in my books but I would like to get that scholarship too, hopefully,” said the right-handed shooter. “But obviously, the main goal as a team player is to try and win the league.”
After four days of evaluations, the Steel make their pre-season debut Friday in Sherwood Park against the Spruce Grove Saints in the opening game of a four-team tournament. Faceoff is 5 p.m.
“With our first game on Friday we want to get going pretty fast here,” said Wilkinson, one of 15 players eligible to return from the Steel’s 24-win and 55-point showing in 2009/10. “Personally, I like to dive into it head-first. Myself and the other vets want to try and get the rookies who maybe haven’t played very much junior A right into it right away.”
Saturday in Spruce Grove the Steel play the Sherwood Park Crusaders at 9 a.m. and Drayton Valley Thunder at 5 p.m. The tournament finals are scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. (B playoff) and 5 p.m. (A playoff) at Servus Credit Union Place.
