Game action awaits a promising Okotoks defenceman embarking on a crucial season.
Okotokian Dru Krebs and the Medicine Hat Tigers will open the abbreviated 2021 Western Hockey League next week after nearly a full calendar year off the ice.
“I’ve waited almost 11 months since the last time I played so it’s been a long time coming,” said Krebs, a 2003-born blueliner. “I’ve trained for a really long time so I’m really excited to get started and play some hockey again.”
Particularly coming off a strong rookie season in which the smooth-skating rearguard tallied 3 goals and 13 points in 55 games on a 41-win Tigers outfit.
“I always had the belief that it was going to get started in September and then it just kept getting delayed,” he said.
“You’ve just got to keep focusing and training on getting better so you’re prepared when the season does start. I was able to play with the Jr. A Oilers for a couple games and that was really helpful.
“It was just about having a positive mindset during these times when it could be worse and you’re just looking for the best in things.”
Alberta’s five WHL squads — Medicine Hat, Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer — were approved by the Province to play a 24-game regular season, opening on Feb. 26 with no fans in attendance.
The Red Deer Rebels players will be living out of their home arena, the Westerner Park Centrium, during the short season as a means to limit contacts in the pandemic.
After being tested upon arrival in the Hat, Krebs has been quarantining at his billets and began his training camp on Feb. 13.
“In Medicine Hat there’s not many COVID cases so they decided it was best for us to actually stay at our billets,” he said. “I’m staying with my usual billets and we have a set-up where we’re not allowed to go to each other’s houses and that type of stuff.
“We just go from the rink and back to our billet
houses.”
During the extended off-season in Big Rock Country, Krebs made the most of his time by hitting the gym and training opportunities as hard as possible.
The youngest of three hockey playing brothers to Peyton — an NHL prospect of the Vegas Golden Knights, and Dakota, who is set to begin his U Sports career with the University of Calgary Dinos — Dru was able to put on 20 pounds since last season.
“There’s some big competitive nature among us,” Dru said with a laugh. “That was really fun to spend some extra time with the family.”
Though shortened significantly, the 2021 campaign is an important one for the 6-foot, 180-pound defenceman as Krebs is eligible for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, having been listed on the CHL’s Players to Watch List.
“I just wanted to come in as prepared as possible,” he said. “Right from the first game, try to make a difference with my team and try to get noticed as a player myself and hopefully get drafted to the NHL this year.”
The WHL will be housing its Saskatchewan and Manitoba teams in a Regina bubble.
Peyton Krebs, the captain of the Winnipeg Ice, is expected to return to the Manitoba team after skating in five regular season games with the Henderson Silver Knights, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The United States Division of the WHL, featuring Seattle, Spokane, Everett, Tri City and Portland, will play one another with a division-only schedule set to commence on March 19.
Foothills County’s Kai Uchacz, a first-round pick of Seattle in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, is entering his second season with the Thunderbirds after posting 8 points in 52 games in 2019-20. Uchacz, an Okotoks minor hockey product, is also listed on the CHL Players to Watch List for the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
