Pats’ Roddy Ross deals with unique transition to new team

Roddy Ross has been a member of the Regina Pats for almost a year, but he hadn’t met his teammates outside of the virtual realm until the WHL team gathered in the Regina bubble.

The Pats acquired the 20-year-old goaltender, along with a 2020 eighth-round WHL draft pick, from the Seattle Thunderbirds on April 22. In return, the Pats sent a 2020 second-round pick, a 2022 fourth-round pick and a conditional second-round pick in 2024 to Seattle.

But with the cancellation of the 2019-20 season and a delayed start to this new one, Ross didn’t get to meet a lot of his new teammates.

“It’s definitely strange. Sometimes when I go to shower in the dorms (at the University of Regina), I’ll wonder who it is. We’ll make the casual head wave but that’s it. It helps being an older guy too because they kind of respect you more,” Ross said Thursday, a day before the Pats were to practise for the first time in the WHL hub.

“It’s been different. These Zoom calls helped a lot. I’m really excited to meet them personally.”

All WHL teams are staying at the University of Regina and Luther College as a part of the league’s hub. The teams arrived on Feb. 27 and had to receive negative COVID tests to even see their teammates.

The Pats expected Friday to be the first day they would practise together at the Co-operators Centre.

“I’m excited to be out there and I know the guys are too. I’m really excited to see all of them battle. We’ve got 24 games and we’re going to work with what we’ve got. I’m excited to see everyone battle for their playing time and see guys put in the extra work into that shift,” Ross said.

And while he won’t have a lot of time to get familiar with the team — games are to begin Friday — Ross doesn’t expect it to be an issue.

“I know once the games come around, all I have to do is stick to my job and stick to the plan and try to win games for the team and keep doing my thing and hopefully it all falls into place,” Ross said.

“We all have the same job; we’re all trying to win games and play for our spot. I know it’s going to be different.”

The Pats open their season against the Prince Albert Raiders at 8 p.m. on Friday.

Wearing letters

On Monday, the Pats announced Logan Nijhoff will wear the ‘C’ this season.

The 19-year-old Nijhoff, who spent the past three seasons with Regina, was named the 80th captain in team history.

Defencemen Kyle Walker and Ryker Evans will serve as full-time assistant captains this season. Forward Carson Denomie will wear an ‘A’ during home games and Drew Englot will be an assistant for away games.