By Nathan Kanter

Sinclair brings a winning pedigree to North Stars

Oct 19, 2016 | 12:00 PM

In April, North Stars first-year forward MacGregor Sinclair was in New Brunswick competing in the Telus Cup with the Lloydminster Bobcats AAA program.

It was an amazing year for the Wainwright, Alta. native, who grew up in the small town of Irma, located roughly 175 km southeast of Edmonton.

The Bobcats qualified for the national tournament by taking down the Valley West Hawks in the Pacific championship, who were widely considered to be the favourites.

“They had outstanding offence and our whole team did a really good [job[ of shutting their whole offence down and putting the puck in the net,” Sinclair recalled. “That was great, once we took them down.”

In the final hurdle, the Telus Cup, Lloydminster fell in the semi-finals to the North York Rangers, the eventual champions.

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When reflecting on his trip to the East coast, what stands out to Sinclair wasn’t anything that happened on the ice.

“One thing that really stuck out was there was a bagel with fish on it for breakfast every morning. That was the one thing I couldn’t believe,” Sinclair said. “It was a little different over there. It was really humid and we were right by the ocean.”

“It was really fun and I hope we can [make nationals] again this year.”

Sinclair transitioned from playing defence to forward in minor midget because of a lack of offence on the Lloydminster Rage. He hasn’t changed since, and his transition from AAA to junior A is just as smooth.

He’s done everything head coach Nate Bedford asked of him, whether it’s penalty killing, defending a goal in the final minutes, or even moving up to the top line to play with offensive weapons Layne Young and Coby Downs, which happened in last week’s road trip.

“I felt like I had played pretty good in the past few games so it’s not that I was expecting [to move up], but when I saw it I was pretty happy with myself,” Sinclair said. “Playing with Downs and Younger is always going to be a treat for anyone who gets to play with them. They’re really smart and you’ve got to let them lead and kind of follow.”

Bedford said he didn’t know much about Sinclair coming into training camp, but that the 18-year-old kept growing on him day after day.

“It’s proof that stats don’t mean much,” Bedford said. “His stats didn’t jump off the page from what he did last year but the thing that was important is he played on a winning team, which I think is as important as anything. Individual skill or individual accolades don’t even come close to team wins and team success.

“He’s a guy that can play all positions – can play on the power play, can play on the penalty kill. He literally can play everything but goal. We haven’t asked him to play goal, maybe he will be able to play goal,” Bedford joked.

Bedford also said Sinclair’s hockey IQ is through the roof.

“You can tell by the way people ask questions whether or not they understand the game and he certainly gets the game completely,” Bedford said. “Aside from the hockey part of things, he’s probably one of the nicest kids you’ll meet so we’re really fortunate to have him.”

Sinclair said he models his game after former Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk, now that he plays centre. Datsyuk won the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward three times and Sinclair wants to be a strong two-way forward as well.

Datsyuk was also a magnificent player with the puck on his stick, and though Sinclair may not have the soft hands the future Hall of Famer showed on a nightly basis (very few in the world do), Sinclair showed an ability to score as well.

In Saturday’s game in Estevan, he froze opposing goaltender Nathan Alalouf with a beautiful forehand-backhand-forehand move, before sliding the puck into the corner of the net.

Sinclair also got things rolling for the North Stars this year, scoring the team’s first goal of the 2016-17 season, in his first career junior A game, no less.

“Actually we weren’t playing too good at the time and I looked back at [Connor] Sych and he had a straight face so I didn’t want to smile,” Sinclair said of his first goal. “But then once I got to the bench and everyone was hooting and hollering, I cracked a smile.”

After Saturday’s 10-3 win over Estevan, it appears the North Stars may have overcome a hurdle.

They are currently still second in the Finning Division with a 9-5-0 record, but they finally got over their multiple slow starts in Saturday’s win, scoring three first period goals.

Right now they are five points back of the Humboldt Broncos, who the North Stars will face at home on Friday night.

“We have the skill to [go far] and we’re working hard,” Sinclair said. “I think things are going to start going our way.”

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11  

Editor’s Note: This story was edited at 3:22 p.m. to change a team name from the Lloydminster Bobcats to the Lloydminster Rage.