EVERETT — Remi Laurencelle has to shake his head and grin when he considers where he finds himself today.
Little more than a year ago, Laurencelle was drowning in a morass in Lethbridge, stuck on a team in complete turmoil and seemingly destined to join the lengthy list of players unable to translate success at lower levels to the WHL.
So could he have ever imagined that 13 months later he’d be playing for a first-place team and skating on a line with a first-round NHL draft pick?
“Uh, no,” the Everett Silvertips center said definitively. “I can tell you that for sure. I’m thankful for the opportunity and I’m happy I came here and got a second chance.”
Laurencelle’s story is one of redemption, of a once-promising prospect who lost his way, but was able to get back on track when given a fresh start in a new environment.
Laurencelle has been perhaps the biggest surprise of Everett’s season. Prior to the start of training camp, the 19-year-old from Winnipeg, Manitoba wasn’t even certain of earning a roster spot. But now he’s become one of the most important forwards on the team. He has 15 goals and 15 assists in 46 games, and he’s centering a line that includes leading scorer Nikita Scherbak.
“I think every year when you come back you have a player who in a very pleasant way kind of surpasses what your expectations might have been,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “Remi has really come a long way. We didn’t have low expectations for him, but we might have not had expectations that he’d produce on the pace he’s on right now.”
Laurencelle’s hockey future looked bright during his days playing at the midget level. After being selected in the eighth round of the 2010 bantam draft by Lethbridge, he had two hugely successful seasons with the Winnipeg Wild of the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League. During his 16-year-old season, he was part of the most feared line in all of Manitoba, finishing second in the league in scoring with 73 points (24 goals, 49 assists) in 43 games and earning a spot on Team West for the U-17 World Hockey Challenge. He seemed destined for big things with the Hurricanes.
But once he arrived in Lethbridge things didn’t go quite as planned. He played a largely anonymous one-and-a-half seasons with the Hurricanes, totaling just five goals and 21 assists over 100 contests for a bad team. By the midpoint of last season, he was seeing just a handful of shifts per game as part of Lethbridge’s fourth line.
Meanwhile, Lethbridge’s top players were jumping ship, seeking greener pastures. Laurencelle didn’t need greener pastures, he just needed a team that would give him a chance.
“For me, I just wanted to be on a team where I would get more ice time,” Laurencelle said. “I wasn’t wanting to leave my teammates, I just wanted to play more than I had been playing.”
That’s when Everett came to the rescue.
The Tips were dealing with injuries up front as last season’s trade deadline approached, so Everett general manager Garry Davidson decided to take a chance. It wasn’t much of a chance — the cost of acquiring Laurencelle was the minimal price of a pair of sixth-round bantam draft picks. But Davidson was hoping the Laurencelle from his midget playing days would eventually emerge in Everett.
“I had seen Remi play as a midget and he caught my eye there, so I had a positive impression of him as a player,” Davidson said. “So when he came available we were looking to add another body, and we decided to give him a chance and maybe he would be a player who helped us down the road.”
It didn’t happen right away. Laurencelle made little impact during his time with the Tips last season, tallying just one goal and four assists in 28 games. So Laurencelle decided he needed a new approach to the offseason.
“In the summer I kind of knew I was getting old in the league, I only had this year and next year to do something or do nothing,” Laurencelle said. “So I came in not worried about it, a little more loosey goosey than what most people would expect. I stayed off the ice for the most part, got away from hockey and relaxed and didn’t worry about it too much.”
Laurencelle spent the summer playing other sports instead of hockey. The training he did was designed to improve his balance and quickness rather than bulk up.
When he showed up for training camp last August he was a completely different player. He had added jump to his skating, and he showed increased confidence with the puck. He quickly moved off the bubble for making the roster and into an important role as the center on Everett’s shutdown line.
Laurencelle filled that role admirably, using his hustle and willingness to battle to help nullify the opposition’s top offensive threats. But it wasn’t until the new year arrived that the high-scoring Laurencelle from his midget days arrived.
Everett was in the process of shuffling its lines, and Constantine was searching for the right fit with Scherbak. Laurencelle was given the nod, and he’s proven a perfect foil for the explosive Russian. Over the past 18 games, Laurencelle is averaging more than a point per game with eight goals and 11 assists, and he’s an impressive plus-12 over that stretch.
“We kind of teach from a pyramid concept of foundation, then adding to that foundation,” Constantine said. “When you talk about the bottom level of the pyramid it involves work, it involves getting into the dirty areas along the boards and the front of the net, it involves paying a price physically, and it involves bringing passion and emotion. I think Remi plays that way, and because of that he’s effective. He has a pretty good skill set to him, too. He has good hands and a decent shot. But I think what makes him effective is he’s very unafraid of playing the grinding part of the game. He’s become a good two-way center.”
Much to the satisfaction of both Laurencelle and the Tips.
“I’m happy with the way things are going right now,” Laurencelle said. “But the season isn’t over. I just hope I can keep helping the team.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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