After a year in teenage wasteland, Brent Roulston's got his back into his living again.
A slipped disc and two minor fractures put that back in purgatory, which for a full season prevented him from showcasing his considerable hockey talents.
Well he's finally healed, and that's good news for the Cariboo Cougars.
They expect Roulston to shoot bucketloads of vulcanized rubber past B.C. Major Midget Hockey League goalies in what will be his last season in the midget ranks.
The soon-to-be 17-year-old native of Whitehorse was a workhorse in the Cougars' weekend training camp at the Coliseum, a dominant right winger who makes good use of his strong skating stride and a six-foot, 185-pound body to clear a track to the net.
"It feels really good," said Roulston. "After all the work I put into it, I'm a lot more confident than I was.
"One side of my back was weaker and it went into my legs too, it was a long process strengthening all those muscles before you have a good back again," he said. "I've grown a lot and it's more a matter of getting your feet back under you and getting your legs and your timing back. A lot of it is just getting a feel for the game again and knowing where you have to be. It's not going to come back just like that, but over time it will, and it's going to be fun."
Cut from the Cougars camp in the summer of 2009, his injury cropped up in December of that year while playing for a Fort St. John midget team, when he took a hit from behind and hyperextended his back. He continued to play with the pain but it continued to worsen, leading to muscle imbalances that forced to miss the Cougars' camp last year. Weeks on the injury shelf dragged into months, but Roulston stayed in Prince George to be with his team. He kept busy watching the games from high in the stands, keeping stats and learning more about the game he loves.
"You watch a whole season like that, you pick up a lot of stuff, like systems and everything, and you almost become one of the coaches because you're consulting with them all the time, and I think that made me a better player," Roulston said. "I see the ice better and analyze the game a lot better now."
Having missed the entire 2010-11 season, Roulston suffered along with his teammates when they were swept by the Vancouver Giants in two straight games in the BCMMHL final.
He trains in Whitehorse with his good friend David Stephens, a former Cougar who now plays in the WHL for the Edmonton Oil Kings. Roulston was dropped from the Kamloops Blazers' protected list at the end of last season, but he's planning on attending their later this month to see if he can rebuild those WHL ties.
His teammates are certainly happy to see him back in uniform.
"Brett is out here taking baby-steps to get back in there and get comfortable with the game, making sure his body is 100 per cent, and we're happy with what he's doing so far," said Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague. "He showed a lot of character staying here and being a leader, helping out the coaches. He had a lot of strain and frustration last year and he had great billets with Wayne and Allison Sands, who worked with him and made sure he stayed focused on the job at hand."
Cougars goalie Jared Rathjen rated Roulston's shot as the hardest on the team last year. If he stays healthy, he could be a major producer.
"He's worked his butt off this summer and he's giving it his best," said Sprague. "He's a great skater and he can score. He's a big guy who creates some space for some of our smaller guys and he should be a top-three guy for us this season."
