Swedish defenceman Stefan Warg didn’t come to North America to score goals.
Warg, a fifth-round draft pick of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, has one goal in two WHL
seasons, including the past couple of weeks with the Prince Albert Raiders.
But the former Seattle Thunderbird still contributes in a big way. He’s a big boy who delivers big hits, as he did Saturday night when host Prince Albert defeated Kootenay 5-2 to end the Ice’s 14-game winning streak.
“That’s my game and I try to do my part,” said Warg, more than six-foot-two and almost 215 pounds.
“It gives the boys some energy, if you throw out a big hit, so I try — at least in the beginning — to get some physical hits in and cheer my boys up. Then play maybe a bit smarter during the game, but still play physical.
“That’s what I’m going to try to bring.”
Warg, who turns 20 within two weeks, rose to the occasion Saturday in his sixth game with the Raiders since they acquired him in a deadline trade with Seattle.
“I didn’t feel so good after the game yesterday,” said Warg, whose Raiders drove all night after Friday’s 6-2 loss in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. “I had a bad headache and I didn’t feel good, at all.
“Me and (Raiders coach-GM) Bruno (Campese) were talking, saying that sometimes when you don’t feel good, it’s the best games you’re going to have, because you play simple and you know you’re limited in your energy. He told me to, ‘Bring what you can bring. I think you’re going to go out and do well.’
“And he was right.”
Warg didn’t get to sleep at his billet house until 8 a.m. Saturday, and pulled out of bed at 12:20 for a 1 p.m. team meeting, but all of the Raiders responded in timely fashion in front of 2,313 fans at the Art Hauser Centre.
As they cooled down after the game, Warg’s chocolate milk probably tasted a little sweeter than Kootenay forward Steele Boomer’s orange Gatorade.
“He hit me one time on the wall pretty good,” Boomer said of Warg. “He’s a solid guy.”
He’s new to the Eastern Conference, but it’s apparent that Warg is already making his mark, partnered with the ever-steady (and considerably smaller) Nathan Deck on the Raiders’ blue-line.
Off the ice, Warg has embraced his new city, if not necessarily the snowy weekend that blanketed Prince Albert.
“It’s been a real easy (transition), because the guys on the team have been so good,” said Warg, reunited with former Seattle forward Jonathan Parker, also a January addition to the Raiders.
“But it’s way different from Seattle — it’s colder and it’s a smaller place. I’d been with my same
billet for a year and a half, and then you switch from the security you have built up with your
billet, it’s something you have to redo now. But, still, I’m here to play hockey and that’s what I have to focus on.”
Warg’s last name is pronounced Vary. As in very good, which seems like a fitting description for the newcomer.
VEY SHOWS THE WAY: Linden Vey of Wakaw scored a goal and assisted on four others to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a 9-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday night in the Hat. Vey has 15 goals and 53 points after 52 games, including an assist Sunday night in Edmonton as the Tigers edged the Oil Kings 2-1 in a game broadcast live on Rogers Sportsnet.
jmacneil@paherald.sk.ca
