Clayton making his own luck: Tigers defenceman leads WHL in points

By RYAN MCCRACKEN on March 17, 2021.

rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken

It’s been said one needs to be good in order to be lucky, and lucky to be good.

Cole Clayton has been both to start the Western Hockey League season.

The 20-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman has set a blazing pace to start the campaign with 14 points in just seven games – including the eventual game-winner of Saturday’s 4-2 victory, scored on a broken-stick shot from the point

“I think if my stick didn’t break, I might have had a chance to score anyway. But it exploded, threw a change-up at him and found a way,” Clayton said in Saturday’s post-game Zoom conference with media.

“It’s a little weird. I’ve never really had this kind of luck, but obviously you make your own luck and I think I’ve been putting work in, in practice and stuff. It’s been good. Guys have been giving me pucks and giving me good looks. I’ve just been shooting and it’s been finding a way.”

Clayton closed out this weekend with four goals and three assists to take over top spot in the WHL’s scoring race while earning a nod for the league’s player of the week – the first with more than one division in action so far this season.

“He’s been a Tiger his whole life, he’s put a ton of work in,” Tigers assistant coach Joe Frazer said of Clayton. “Having a year off, it was obviously challenging but he made the most of it. He put a lot of work into it and he’s getting rewarded for everything he did during that off time. It’s great to see him get rewarded after all the hard work he’s put in on and off the ice.”

Much of the alternate captain’s offence – and by extension Medicine Hat’s – has been coming on the power play. The Tigers converted on eight of their 12 chances with the man advantage this weekend, a 2-1-0-0 performance against the Hitmen, and now lead the league with a success rate of 38.7%.

“Obviously special teams is huge for us, and I think since we’ve been winning that battle we’ve been winning games,” said Clayton, who scored all four of his goals this weekend on the power play. “It’s been nice to contribute on that.”

The Tigers won’t be back on the ice until March 26, when they open a three-game set against the rival Lethbridge Hurricanes. The extended break could give the rest of the league time to catch up with Clayton’s league-best mark of 14 points. But Clayton’s average of two points per game is still among the top three in the league, trailing only Edmonton Oil Kings forwards Dylan Guenther (2.50) and Kaid Oliver (2.25), while holding a half-point lead on Prince Albert’s Remy Aquilon for highest average production among defencemen.

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