Local players having impact on Raiders

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Five Strathmore players have helped propel the Okotoks-based Rocky Mountain Raiders to the provincial championship series in the AMBHL.
Locals Lucas Muenchrath, Joel Krahenbil, Cole Clayton, Tyler Strath and Kelton Travis have all made an impact for the triple-A bantam team.
Raiders head coach Mickey Kluner has seen something very unique about each of these players.
Forward Lucas Muenchrath made the team on his second year of tryouts. “He has been a regular contributor, brings good size and strength to the table. He’s a great kid, definitely has a bright future and some big hockey left in him for this upcoming series,” said Kluner. “From a standpoint, he’s not one of our top three or four guys but he’s been consistently involved in terms of production, reliability. He’s definitely got the skill set to be a top six scorer.”
He admits maturity has made a big difference in Muenchrath’s game.
“The maturity of being a second year, he grew a little more, a good sized kid, his foot speed improved coming into this year where the first year it was lacking with the physical strength and readiness for that,” said Kluner.
He compared forward Joel Krahenbil to Joe Thornton in the way he plays.
“We jokingly were calling him ‘Jumbo’ this year because he has a lot of similarities to Joe Thornton, size, strength, winning his battles and great vision,” said Kluner. “He’s equally one of the top skilled guys on our team, a soft spoken kid that is heard by his play.”
Kluner added that with Krahenbil’s consistent play, it had allowed him to be used in more situations as he can score, play defense and can use his size.
Cole Clayton has seen a lot of minutes this season on the back end because of his consistent play.
“His vision of the ice is really good. He’s slick with the puck, got a great shot, not terribly physical but on the same token he holds his own in all battles and has a great attitude,” said Kluner. “He definitely looks to rush the puck and join the rush, not a stay-at-home guy.”
Tyler Strath is one of the bigger guys on the backend and one of the leaders as he is the lone returnee on the blueline.
“He made (our team) as a first-year and that was a year at learning the ropes of expectation levels and he had his struggles but at the same time has lots of valuable insight on what it takes to be a top d-man in this league,” said Kluner.
Defenceman Kelton Travis did not play an elite level of hockey a season ago and is probably one of the better stories to come out of the team this season.
“He was one of the more feel good stories of the year, you know having all the other players playing bantam triple-A or double-A,” said Kluner. “Kelton did not play either … he played bantam 1 and the coin he made from that into this level and being a regularly relied on player … he’s that guy that made that massive jump.”
He was able to make the jump because of some assets he already possesses.
“There are so many variables there with size, physicality and skating. His skating from last year to this year has improved a lot,” said Kluner. “Through tryouts he was just a physical force that with any coach, it makes you look twice.”
The Raiders have advanced to the league final and are currently battling Fort Saskatchewan in the best-of-five championship series.
After splitting the first two games of the series, the Raiders will travel to Fort Saskatchewan for the next two games this coming weekend. Game 5, if necessary, will be in Okotoks on March 24.
The winner of the series will go on to the Western Canadian Bantam Triple-A Championship in Winnipeg from April 2-5.