CANMORE – The Eagles’ newest addition, defenceman, Drae Gardiner made his debut over the weekend.
The 18-year-old Calgary product, who spent the past two seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Western Hockey League (WHL), was released by the club on Nov. 9.
“Drae is exactly what our team was looking for. When you lose guys like Mark Drohan and Daly Hamilton from our roster last year, you lose a lot of offensive production from the back end. His [Gardiner] best assets are his skating, his vision, his puck movement. For us to gain a player that can play with the puck in the offensive zone – it will take a lot of stress off our other defensemen,” said Eagles assistant coach Evan McFeeters.
To make room for Gardiner on the roster, Eagles’ general manager and head coach, Andrew Milne made the decision to release Sam Witt. Milne echoed McFeeters praise for Gardiner and elaborated on the leadership he will bring the the team. He said Gardiner has already stepped up as a leader both in the dressing room and on the ice.
“I think I bring a more professional approach to the game. I want to show these guys that there is another level on and off the ice,” said Gardiner.
At just 5’9”, Gardiner makes up for his diminutive frame with a tenacious in-your-face style of play, that Milne is hopeful will lead to a tougher team to play against defensively.
“We’re excited to have him. He’s a very skilled player that will add a lot of offence to our back end and shore up our defence too,” said Eagles’ defenceman Brent Schuldhaus.
Improving the team’s defensive side of the game is something the Eagles’ coaching staff has highlighted as a work in progress throughout the season.
“We feel that we’ve played a lot of the season defending in our own zone and that puts a lot of stress and fatigue on our guys,” McFeeters said.
The Eagles’ coaching staff believes the team’s goaltending has been solidified, since the addition of Kadin Kilpatrick, and are content to give up shots from the perimeter.
“We analyze every goal. We break it down. I like like the direction we are going, I think we have to improve in a few areas and tighten up a couple things,” Milne said.
One of the areas the team would like to improve upon is limiting the opposition’s scoring chances from the slot.
“Right now we’re collapsing a little bit. The team’s giving up chances in front of our goaltender, which gives our opponents high quality scoring chances that end up in the back of our net.”
McFeeters is adamant that with the addition of Gardiner to the lineup, the defensive game will start to improve because of his ability to move the puck up ice and create offence, which means less time defending.
“Now that we have a player like Drae Gardiner in our lineup that can get the puck in the offensive zone on a regular basis – all of a sudden the game kind of changes, we’re not playing 65 per cent of the game defending in our own zone. We can play more in the offensive zone and then we don’t even have to worry about giving up scoring chances,” he said.
Another upside to Gardiner’s game is his play on special teams. Currently, the Eagles are second last in the league on the penalty kill at only 75.6 per cent, and have given up the fifth most penalties, a stat that Milne admitted is “concerning.”
“At the end of the day, to improve the penalty kill we have to take less penalties and take away some stress from our players. And again that comes down to spending less time in our end.”
On the offensive side, Milne is hopeful Gardiner’s vision will add to the Eagles’ already stellar power play. Through 25 games this season, the Eagles are second in the league on the man advantage, at 25.4 per cent.
“I think you’re going to see some high offence from him and he’ll put up some big numbers in this league. My hope is that we keep him because he’s a Western League guy, and I think he’s going to have a lot of success once he gets some confidence,” said Milne.
Gardiner is eager to make a mark in the league and wants to help the Eagles become a top team, but admits it will take a lot of hard work.
“We have to start holding each other accountable. I think once that happens, you will see a change on the ice and we will start to win more games, and become a more formidable team,” Gardiner said.
