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Young a goal scorer at every level

Nov 16, 2016 | 3:53 PM

It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to North Stars fans to learn that Layne Young has always played forward.

The North Stars sniper was a goal scorer his whole life, including this season where he leads the team with 14 goals, good for the third most in the league.

But one thing fans might not know is that Young hails from Paradise Hill, Sask., a place so small the Battlefords North Stars roster is bigger than the entire graduating class of Young’s high school.

The village of roughly 500 people is about an hour and a half northwest of North Battleford.

Young said he loved growing up in a small, tight-knit community.

“I was close with absolutely everyone in my class so that was always nice. I knew everyone and what was going on,” Young said. “There were 10 boys in our class and I think eight of us played hockey so all the guys were really close.”

The North Stars sniper, the eldest of three kids, moved to North Battleford in his first midget year of hockey to play with the AAA Stars. He said it was a bit of a change of pace to be in a bigger city and go to a bigger school, but he didn’t find the adjustment too hard.

Plus, Young found immediate team success with the AAA Stars, making it all the way to the league finals under coach Martin Smith, who he had already played for in bantam. Young put up 27 points in 44 games in his rookie year.

“[Smith] really helped me out,” Young said. “Everything happened a lot quicker than midget AA, and in midget AA … you could really take advantage of some of the guys, whereas midget AAA they’re a lot more even.”

The following season Young exploded for 31 goals in 43 games, tallying 62 points. Once again, the AAA Stars made the league finals. And once again, they couldn’t snag the title, this time falling to the Regina Pat Canadians.

During that 2014-15 season with the AAA Stars, Young also played in two games for the North Stars as an affiliate player, as the North Stars already had his rights.

“I remember the first game, don’t really remember my first shift,” Young said. “We went to La Ronge of all places for the first one but I remember my second one a little bit more because I affiliated that game and it was here [in the Battlefords] so that one has more memories.”

What Young remembers even clearer is how quickly he clicked with teammate Coby Downs.

Both he and Downs were rookies last season and it wasn’t until roughly late November when head coach Kevin Hasselberg decided to put them together. The duo clicked right off the bat.

“It was just instant,” Young said. “I think the first period between me, him, and Dustin Gorgi – that was the other kid that lived with Downs – I think we probably had 10 shots the first period.”

Later in the season and for the playoffs, Downs and Young would get put on a line with Igor Leonenko to produce a potent top line. All three would finish top-10 in league scoring.

This season, Young is at it with Downs once again. Young currently leads Battlefords in scoring with 28 points in 23 games, while Downs – who missed some time in September because he had been playing in the USHL for a few games – has 20 points in 14 games. Ben Allen formed some good chemistry with them, and is currently also over a point-per-game, with 15 points in 14 games.

But more importantly, the team as a whole is flying, having won their last 12 straight and leading the league with a 20-5 record, which is seven points up on the next-best team.

“I was pretty confident we’d be good again [this year],” Young said. “I figured that we might not score as many gaols as we did last year, but our defence would definitely still be there and our goaltending and it shows. I think we have the best goals-against-average in the league now.”

After last night’s win over Nipawin, the North Stars do indeed have the league’s best goals-against-average. They have allowed only two goals against per game, marginally better than the Hawks 2.05 goals against per game.

But the offence is also scoring in droves. Nine different players have at least 15 points this season through 25 games and four have already hit the 20-point plateau.

“We seem to get scoring from all four lines, that’s for sure,” Young said. “Everyone can put the puck in the net.”

Off the ice, Young likes to spend his free time helping out on his farm at home or riding his horse, which he brought down to the Battlefords and is boarding in the area.

“When we don’t have games that day, that’s usually what I do in the afternoon,” Young said.

Growing up in Paradise Hill, he learned to ride from an early age.

“There’s a picture of my dad – he has me – I think I’m maybe one, and I’m on a horse and he’s just holding me there,” Young recalled. “At the start it wasn’t [easy to ride]. But I’ve had so many years of experience I’ve kind of just gotten used to it.”

Has he taught anyone on the team how to ride a horse?

“I haven’t taught anyone before but I know [associate coach Braeden Johnson] keeps wanting to get out there so I might have to do that someday,” he said.

 

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