Leclerc No. 1 in Kamloops

From The Daily News of Friday, Sept. 21, 2007 . . .

Things couldn’t have worked out much better for Justin Leclerc, who is the
Kamloops Blazers’ starting goaltender as they open their WHL regular season
tonight.
“That was my goal. That’s why I asked to be moved,” Leclerc, 18, said, sweat
dripping from his face after a practice session at Interior Savings Centre.
“That’s the mindset I came into camp with. And I’ll be happy to play as many
games as they want.”
He is, as he put it, “No. 1 on a great team . . . a potentially great team.”
Fans will get their first look at that team tonight when the franchise’s
27th regular season begins with a game against the Chilliwack Bruins. Game
time at The ATM is 7 o’clock.
A month ago, Leclerc didn’t know what was in his future.
He had played two seasons with the Lethbridge Hurricanes but felt his career
starting to get away from him. At the age of 16, Leclerc, who is from
Saskatoon, had been considered one of the country’s best goaltenders in his
age group. Last season, however, things started to go south and the
frustration only got worse when he came down with mononucleosis.
So, thinking he needed a fresh start, Leclerc asked Lethbridge general
manager Roy Stasiuk to look at moving him.
Which is how, on Aug. 23, Leclerc ended up with the Blazers, a second-round
selection in the 2008 bantam draft going the other way.
The Blazers were looking for a goaltender to offer a challenge to Dustin
Butler, who had been acquired from the Portland Winter Hawks in October.
Butler was one of four 20-year-olds the Blazers were looking at, knowing all
the while they could keep only three.
By the end of the exhibition schedule, Leclerc had shown enough that general
manager/head coach Dean Clark chose to trade Butler and install Leclerc as
the starter, with James Priestner, a 16-year-old from Edmonton, as the
backup.
“It’s exciting when we get down to the last two goalies,” said Leclerc, who
has been a goaltender since his second season at the novice level. “Even
though it was my plan to come out on top and be the starter . . . it is nice
to finally have achieved it.
“Having said that, I’m trying to have the same focus and the same mindset as
I did before.”
Being named the go-to guy is the culmination of a journey that began over
the summer.
Coming off last season, Leclerc felt something was missing, that his game
was incomplete and that he had to do something about it. Which is how he
came to spend time with Dr. Kevin Spink of the College of Kinesiology at the
U of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
“We worked on a whole range of sports psychology things,” Leclerc said.
“Preparation, during games, how to evaluate games . . . we kind of put
together a plan for the whole season.”
Leclerc is one of those ultra-competitive people, something that doesn’t
mesh well with the part of a goaltender’s skillset that requires a short
memory.
“That’s tough for me,” he admits of the need to quickly forget about having
been beaten. “There is a technique, though. You have your first automatic
reaction of being frustrated and then you correct it in your head . . . you
realize what you could have done better.
“And then you refocus on the next play.”
That, he said, “seems pretty simple but it’s something you learn along the
way.”
It’s something he also hopes that he doesn’t have to worry too much about
this season. And he really is looking forward to playing on a team that
promises to have one of the WHL’s top defences.
Looking at that defence, he said, is “kind of mind-boggling.”
“I know from experience,” he added, “that success comes with team success
and to have that defence . . . that’s such a key part of any winning team.”
Last season, Butler saw an average of 23 shots per game. At the same time,
Leclerc was facing 28 shots per 60 minutes with the Hurricanes. Five shots a
game might not seem like a lot, but over the course of an entire season it
adds up. And then there is the quality of those shots.
“I’ve played on teams where you get 40 shots a night but they’re all from
the outside,” Leclerc explained. “And I’ve played on a team where you get
20, like last season, but they’re coming right up the middle. So it does
make a big difference . . .”
For now, though, Leclerc is working hard . . . on the ice and in trying not
to look too far down the road.
“I’m not looking ahead, just taking it day by day,” he said. “I’m trying to
fit as much work in now as I can because later on, if I am playing a lot of
games, I won’t be able to put in the same time.
“It’ll be nice to find a groove. Right now I feel great in pratice but you
never really have that full confidence until you put a few games behind
you.”