The trade deadline is often a make-or-break point of the season in hockey, and the Portage Terriers appear to be reaping the benefits of some changes they made.
Head Coach and General Manager Blake Spiller acquired three players around deadline time, with Forwards Kyan Grouette and Rhett Platt coming over from Virden, along with Defenceman Sully Ross from Winkler.
Grouette, who comes to Portage after a season split between the Dauphin Kings and the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (WHL), says he's enjoyed his time in Portage so far.
"It was a great experience for me, coming to an above .500 club coming from Virden. And I knew we were going to make a playoff run. So, it was exciting news for me."
He outlines what he feels the major differences are between the two levels of junior hockey.
"I think the guys are a little bit tighter here than in the Western. In the Western, it's a little bit more competitive in the room and stuff because guys are trying to move on to the NHL and stuff like that. I mean, honestly, my experience here and Dauphin have been pretty good. Obviously. I enjoy it here a lot, I'm enjoying hockey here a lot. But you have a big difference. Honestly, I would say the speed, but not that by that much man, I'm not going to lie. It was pretty easy to adjust, but it's a great league, for sure."
Grouette became the latest Terrier to be presented with a Metis sash at the Louis Riel Day game, and says it meant a lot to him.
"Being a part of the Metis community is pretty great. They're great community and honestly, it's been it was a great honour for me."
Ross spent his entire junior career in Winkler, and notes that a trade wasn't really on his radar when the deadline came around.
“It was a little bit of a bit of a shock. I was in Winkler for my first four years of junior and to hear that was definitely a surprise. But I'm glad I'm here in Portage and I'm excited to excited to be here and make a playoff push with the boys.”
Ross adds that he's also been enjoying playing for the crowd at Stride Place.
"I’ve got great billets. We actually live just down the street from each other. Everyone's kind of pretty close to each other, so that's nice. And yeah, I know I've had a great time playing here. Like, kind said, the fans are great, and the community is awesome. It's a good place to play."
The pair added that their experiences on deadline day were pretty similar.
Grouette led off with his story, saying, "For me it was definitely a shock. It was our practice time, and I was fully dressed, and I was ready to go, and I was just about to step on the ice, and they tapped me on my shoulder, and I was like ‘Oh, yeah, well...’ When you get a tap on the shoulder and told to meet coach on deadline day, you pretty much know what's going on. But I mean, as soon as I heard that I was going to Portage, I was pretty excited."
Ross had a fairly similar experience.
"We hopped on the ice for practice and got off the ice. I got undressed and I was just stretching in the gym and I got that call to the office and kind of the same feeling that Kyan said, it's like, ‘Uh oh.’ But it wasn't really going through my mind. Wasn't too. And then obviously when he said I was going to get traded, I didn't know where to at the time and I found out it was Portage a couple days later, so that was that eased my stomach a little bit and it was nice to know that I was coming to a good organization."
The two young men will hope to take the team on a deep playoff run, with potential run-ins with their former teams. The road to the Turnbull Cup playoffs continues with a puck drop tonight, February 21, against the Northern Manitoba Blizzard. The game begins at 7:30 p.m.