LeBlanc skates into senior stardom

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2011 (5594 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On yet another frosty February day, believe it or not, Devon LeBlanc was speaking fondly about being back in Brandon for the winter.

LeBlanc doesn’t like the cold weather any more than the rest of us do, but after spending a number of years traipsing across Western Canada and the northern United States for hockey, the 22-year-old Brandonite is enjoying being back home again, playing senior with the Carberry Plainsmen.

"Six years there, I was gone and I’m with my family a lot too now, like my parents and stuff, I love that," he said.

"I can go out to their place (in Ninette) on weekends and they enjoy coming to the games, too."

After a Western Hockey League junior career with the Red Deer Rebels, Prince Albert Raiders and Seattle Thunderbirds, LeBlanc split last season between the minor professional Rapid City Rush and the University of Regina Cougars.

This winter, he’s been back in Brandon taking police studies at Assiniboine Community College.

The Rush had an outstanding season last season, winning the Central Hockey League title, but LeBlanc didn’t have the start to his pro career he was hoping for.

He signed with the Rush intending to play with his older brother, Derek, but Derek made the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose and spent the first portion of the season there, while Devon played sparingly with the Rush.

Devon decided to leave the Rush, but was around just long enough to play one game with his brother after Derek was reassigned to the team by the Moose.

Devon LeBlanc said it was simply time to start planning for his future.

"At least get some schooling," he said. "I might still end up going back and playing with Derek. He wants me to go back there, obviously, but I figure I’ll have something to fall back on this way.

"…The whole pro thing was a lot different. (In) junior, you’re guided to do whatever you’re going to do and then (with a pro team), you’re kind of on your own, living on your own and stuff, so it was just a big change for me and I think too much at once, maybe."

Now LeBlanc is playing just for the fun of it again and the results are showing on the ice.

He won the Tiger Hills Hockey League scoring title with 40 goals and 74 points in only 18 games and shared the most outstanding player award with Blaine Jarvis of the Gladstone Lakers.

"But I don’t have great linemates," he deadpanned for the benefit of linemate Zeanan Ziemer, who was in the room while he did the phone interview.

(For the record, Ziemer actually averaged more points per game than LeBlanc did this season and was named the THHL rookie of the year).

The Plainsmen have a number of LeBlanc’s old Brandon buddies on their roster, including Ziemer, Ryan Halliday, former Wheat King Riley Day and Jeremy Champagne, and they’ve meshed well with the Carberry players.

The team went 15-3-1 in the regular season and holds a 3-0 lead over the Swan Lake Cougars in their quarter-final playoff series, going into Game 4 tonight at 7 o’clock in Swan Lake.

"We made playoffs and stuff when I was in junior, but usually the first round or the second round and that was it," LeBlanc said.

"To kind of be expected to go pretty far (in the playoffs), I love it. The team is great guys — they couldn’t have welcomed us better."