Pratt bringing American flavour to the Captaincy of the Pats

The Pats have a long and storied history, but one thing is uncommon — an American captain. The Pats have only had three U.S. born captains.

In 1921-22 Howard Milne, who was born in Park River, North Dakota, was the first. There is some debate if he grew up playing hockey here in Canada or in the United States since records weren’t well kept back then, and he may not have played much organized hockey until junior.

Howie went on to coach the Regina Monarchs, including a Memorial Cup win in 1928. He also played football during his hockey career. Milne won two provincial junior championships in 1919 and 1920. He then went on to play for the Regina Roughriders in 1921.

Last season, Jake Leschyshyn captained the Pats until he was traded to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Jake was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. His father, Curtis Leschyshyn, was playing for the Carolina Hurricanes at the time.

Jake played minor hockey in Saskatoon and has played internationally for Canada. He may have been born in the United States, but he has declared as a Canadian hockey player.

Jake spent parts of five seasons with the Pats and became a fan favorite. The biggest goal he scored as a Pat was the empty-netter to seal the win in the Memorial Cup semi-final versus Hamilton.

That brings us to possibly the first born and raised American to wear the “C” for the Regina Pats, Austin Pratt. Austin was born in Lakeville, Minnesota, the hockey hotbed of the States. He played for the famed Shattuck St. Mary’s program, which was very close to home. Unlike most Americans, Pratt knew about the CHL, specifically the OHL.

I had a chance to chat with Austin about coming to Canada to play and his career in the WHL.

“It’s something that I knew about because my dad is from Toronto and he was familiar with OHL. So I had family in Ontario. So I think we’re trying to go to the OHL so I could live with my grandparents. But the zoning issues brought me to the WHL. I knew more about the WHL, the CHL than most Americans. That really helped with my decision.”

Despite the knowledge of the CHL, there was still a decision to be made. The NCAA is still the option for American-born players.

“I visited a few schools, and I thought about it long and hard. At the end of the day, my family and everyone thought that this is my best chance of becoming pro, is coming here. At the end of day (it) really wasn’t too hard, because he (Brent Sutter) made me feel at home. The WHL, he convinced me that this is where I need to be, and I agree with him 100%.”

I asked him about the chance to play for Brent Sutter in Red Deer, who drafted Austin in the 4th round, 75th overall, in the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft.

“You learn lots he (Brent) is, you look at his resume, and the same with him and John (Paddock) and Dave (Struch). Their resumes are really good, and you can’t really ask for any better coaches in this league. The amount of stuff I’ve learned from them all has been great.”

I then asked him about becoming the first American born and raised captain of the Pats.

“It’s an honour. Coming to this team, there’s such a close tie with the military and my granddad. He was in the military. He (went) over to Normandy, served in World War II. Just that tie to the army, it really hits home because he’s the Canadian Light Infantry too. So, yeah, it’s an honour. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I’ve been in the city, always want to be a leader. The fact that I get to be the captain for such a storied franchise is a true honour.”

I then closed out the interview with a reflection on his time in the WHL as his final season is upon us.

“Oh, it’s been surreal. I mean, I’ve had the opportunity to be on two Memorial Cup teams. And it’s very rare. The majority of the population don’t even get one chance at the Memorial Cup and I had two. I didn’t get to play much in Red Deer, which is okay; our team was really good. But being able to come here and being able to play a lot in the Memorial Cup, that’s a true honor. Just to be in the tournament and to be in the tournament with the Pats was something special”

 

Special thanks to Kevin Shaw (@theblueliner) for some assistance in researching this article.