Haliburton County Husky, Kaiden Thatcher, came off the ice after warm-ups before the first game of the season Sept. 6 to find an ‘A’ stitched into his jersey.
The team has yet to name a captain, with Thatcher and Isaac Larmand serving as alternate captains so far this year.
The big second-year defenseman said it came as somewhat of a shock.
But, “at the same time, I’m not surprised. I think I’ve been a leader my whole life. It’s kind of who I am, and my personality,” he told The Highlander this week.
“I think I bring a lot of energy to the room. I get the guys going. I lead by example.”
The 6-foot-4, 205 lb. D-man says the added responsibility has been good for him, helping him to dial in a little more both on the ice and in the dressing room.
Born in 2007, he is a young alternate captain. He jokes he is trying to be a kid but it makes him realize he has to be more of an adult “and lead the guys in the room, the younger guys especially.”
The Huskies are a decidedly younger team this year than last, especially after trading goalie Stephen Toltl.
Asked what it is like working with Larmand, Thatcher said “great.” It helps that the two billet together in the same house, so can talk hockey after they leave the rink. The D-man said they are like brothers.
“We’ll talk about what we can do better. We’ve had multiple player-only meetings when we were in a bit of slump at the start of the season, to try to get the boys going and trying to see what the problem was.”
They chalked it up to rookies being a bit too comfortable at the start, and not understanding Husky hockey and systems.
“We have a ton of skill; it’s just trying to get them to understand that junior hockey isn’t like minor hockey at all… everything’s a lot faster. They were overcomplicating things and we had to tell them to just keep it simple and stick to their game.” He said watching a ton of video is helping.
Thatcher’s experience playing games with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes last year has helped.
He added he and Larmand have different personalities they bring to their roles.
“I’m definitely the bad cop; more vocal than him. He’s definitely more of the nice guy. He’ll be more understanding and I kind of rip into them a bit – and it works.”
The team has come off of a rare weekend off, last on the ice Oct. 28 against Newmarket before playing in Buffalo Nov. 5. However, they have been in the gym and at the rink.
Thatcher said he is seeing improvement and the team has set a lofty goal of winning nine of 11 games in November.
“These past couple of games, we’ve been playing a lot better; just preaching the whole get the pucks to the net kind of thing. That’s helped. This year, we have not been too offensive of a team, so it’s all about getting pucks to the net, score more dirty goals, we’re not as skilled as last year, quite yet.”
The team is back home Nov. 8 against the Wellington Dukes. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.
