KENT — Most of the Regina Pats had played at the ShoWare Center only once or twice prior to Tuesday’s Game 3 of the Western Hockey League finals.
But one Pat was intimately familiar with the confines. Dawson Leedahl, an overage forward, played the first four years of his WHL career with the Everett Silvertips.
Leedahl, who captained the Tips during the 2015-16 season and was twice named the team’s “Unsung Hero,” was the centerpiece of last summer’s blockbuster trade that sent him, along with the rights to Tyson Jost, to the Pats in exchange for forward Sean Richards and draft picks.
“I came to a really good team and a really good group of guys,” Leedahl said following Regina’s 6-1 loss in Game 4 Wednesday night. “The coaches made it easy on me and it’s nice being close to home, too.
“Obviously it turned out pretty well for me considering the year I had,” the Saskatoon native continued. “It was refreshing.”
By moving to the Eastern Conference, Leedahl got to see his former team only once this season, when the Tips visited the Brandt Centre on Valentine’s Day. Everett prevailed 4-2 in that game to snap Regina’s 11-game winning streak, though Leedahl scored a goal and finished plus-one for the contest.
“It was kind of weird — I really wanted to win that game just because of all the familiar faces and you want to be competitive,” Leedahl said. “Any time they get ahead, it’s really hard to score goals on them. They’ve got good goaltending and play a really good team structure.”
As an overager, Leedahl put together the type of offensive campaign many in the Everett Silvertips organization envisioned when the Tips took him in the second round of the 2011 bantam draft. Playing alongside 2016-17 WHL Player of the Year Sam Steel on Regina’s top line, Leedahl tallied 35 goals and 54 assists in 71 games. That came after a 19-year-old campaign in Everett when he tallied 12 goals with 15 assists in 48 games while missing more than a month because of a broken hand.
“I always thought I was capable of it,” Leedahl said. “I used to play a little bit more of an offensive, fast transition game and took a few more chances. It really worked out for me this year.”
The performance earned him a three-year, entry-level NHL contract with the New York Rangers. The deal was announced Monday.
“It was pretty exciting,” Leedahl said. “I didn’t really know it was coming. I was just focusing on playing in the playoffs here and keep moving forward. But yeah, it’s a huge accomplishment and I’m super happy to be with New York.”
While Regina was considered a preseason favorite to win the WHL title, the Tips put together an impressive season of their own by winning the U.S. Division and earning the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs in what many pegged as a rebuilding campaign.
Leedahl kept tabs on his former teammates, and for a while it seemed an Everett-Regina finals matchup was a possibility.
“I was still hoping for (Everett) to come out of the West,” he said. “It would have been cool to play against them. I was happy for them and the year they had.”
Leedahl ended his stint with the Tips at ShoWare Center last April in the second round of the WHL playoffs. He also was a member of the 2013-14 Everett team that saw its season end at ShoWare Center in the first round of the 2014 playoffs.
“(The T-birds) beat us out a couple times, so any time you play them, you want to get back at them a little bit,” Leedahl said. “Hopefully this year it’s my turn to end their season.”
Game 5 of the WHL finals is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. Friday at ShoWare Center. The series is knotted 2-2, with Game 6 Sunday in Regina.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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