Although his major junior career didn't end with an Ed Chynoweth Cup as he hoped, Yorkton native Davis Vandane left the Prince Albert Raiders' Art Hauser Centre with his head held high following a strong 20-year-old season.
"It was disappointing not to get anything going in the playoffs," said Vandane, who scored 15 goals and 79 points in 189 games throughout his WHL career. "It would have been nice to end my WHL career with a championship or even a good playoff run, but it just didn't work out that way. I'm still very happy with how my season went. I felt I had a really good year and was able to contribute offensively."
The Raiders were swept by the Red Deer Rebels in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. The series was closer than the four-and-out showing suggests. Two of the games were one-goal differences and others differed by two and three.
Patrick Bartosak was the Raiders' Achilles heel, maintaining a 1.25 average and a .962 save percentage in the series.
"He was their big player in the series," said Vandane. "He played really well and made it hard to get one past him. You got to give him a lot of credit."
Known for his defensive stability, Vandane broke out from the back end as a puck mover in his third season in the Dub. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder notched 12 goals and 36 points in 65 games.
"I was happy to chip in offensively," said Vandane. "It was something I wanted to work on and I thought I did a pretty good job by scoring 12 goals."
Vandane's road to the WHL had its ups, but also its downs. In his 18-year-old season, the Saskatoon Blades sent him down to the Yorkton Terriers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. He later received a tryout by the Spokane Chiefs and made no mistake about it.
"It was frustrating for me when I got sent down to junior A," said Vandane. "But I ended up playing pretty good with the Terriers (5 goals, 18 points in 14 games), so that was a confidence boost for me. I ended up getting a tryout stint with the Chiefs and they gave me a spot on their team."
Vandane, who turns 21 at the end of April, enjoyed living in the Sates, noting it was one of the highlights of his hockey career.
"I have not one thing bad to say about my time in Spokane," said Vandane. "I enjoyed every minute of my time with the Chiefs. They have great fans. We had like 8-9 thousand people at every game. And it was a beautiful city with a lot of great people. One of my favourite hockey memories was going to the conference final with the Chiefs in 2011."
Besides his playoff run with the Chiefs, Vandane notes playing in the Mac's Tournament with the Yorkton Harvest of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League stands out as a bright spot.
"That was a great experience," said Vandane on playing in the Mac's Tournament. "It was a lot of fun playing against some of the top AAA teams in Canada."
It didn't take Vandane long at all to find a new home with a pro team. Only a couple days after the Raiders were knocked out of the playoffs, he signed a contract with the Idaho Steelheads of the East Coast Hockey League.
