Chase Witala walked right from the practice ice at CN Centre into the coaches' office, along with the rest of the Prince George Cougars on-ice leadership group.
It hasn't been officially announced by the team, but you can count on Witala wearing a letter on his jersey this season. He's saying all the right things to his teammates and coaches and his actions on the rink speak much louder than his words.
At 19, a week away from the dawn of his fourth season as a Cougar, Witala has already proven himself a capable leader, as he has throughout his hockey career, and he aims to show he can be one of the Western Hockey League's dominant forwards while playing for his hometown team.
After a back injury at mid-season forced him to miss 21 games in 2013-14, Witala is feeling 100 per cent healthy again and that's troubling news for WHL goaltenders whose job it is to try to stop the five-foot-11, 181-pounder from dissecting them in the crease with his hand-eye wizardry.
Witala tore muscles in his lower back while making a sharp turn in the first period of the Cougars' first game following the Christmas break, Dec. 27 in Victoria, and was unable to return in time to regain his ability as a game-breaker.
"Him not being in the lineup certainly affected our playoff chances," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "He was out half the year and Jari [Erricson] was out all year and we lost a lot of offence.
"Skip (Witala's nickname) is a four-year guy and he's really impressed me. He's taken some steps to be a leader and he's certainly leading by example. You can try and create offence but it's tough to score goals and he seems to have that quick release and doesn't panic around the net and he finds a way to score goals."
At the time he got hurt, Witala led the Cougars in scoring with 18 goals and had 31 points in the previous 37 games. He came back for five games of limited action and put up just one more point.
"It was really tough, I was having a good start there and it would have been nice to play all the games," said Witala. "It's been good so far and hopefully I'll stay healthy all season long. I've been here for a long time now and I feel a lot more confident and I feel bigger and stronger. Hopefully we can keep it going and can carry the team's success into the regular season."
With three wins and one overtime loss, the Cougars have a chance to go undefeated in regulation time when they finish their pre-season schedule tonight in Kamloops (broadcast on CIRX 94.3 FM, 7 p.m. start).
Witala was on top of his game last Friday in the Cats' 5-3 exhibition win over the Edmonton Oil Kings. He picked up a goal and an assist playing the right side on a line with centre Jansen Harkins and left winger Chance Braid. That line combined for eight points.
"It's fun playing with those two," said Witala. "Jansen is a world-class player for his age group and he'll find you whenever you're open and Chance is a big strong player with skill and speed and he can put the puck in the net too."
Witala followed the hockey example of his two-years-older brother Tyson, who went on to play three full seasons of junior in the BCHL with the Spruce Kings, Trail Smoke Eaters and Langley Rivermen. Their father Darren had them skating before they were even out of the diaper stage. Chase's biggest hockey influence, however, was his minor hockey coach, Sean LeBrun, a former WHL star with Spokane, New Westminster and Tri-City, who capped his junior career in 1989 with a 52-goal, 125-point season before moving on to the AHL.
"Sean was a great coach for me all the way through my minor hockey career, he was a 50-goal scorer in Tri-Cities and I look up to him," said Witala. "I want to be a 50-goal scorer in this league someday and I learned a lot from him."
