Cuthbert has big role with team despite small size
Jan. 18, 2010 - Regina Leader-Post
By Ian Hamilton
For a small guy, Craig Cuthbert is having a big impact on the University of Regina Cougars men's hockey team.
Entering Sunday's game against the Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Canada West rookie led Regina this season in goals (six) and was tied for the team lead in points (10).
Asked about his diminutive centre, Regina head coach Blaine Sautner said simply: "He plays big."
"Those types of guys have battled through being small their whole life," Sautner added after watching Cuthbert score a power-play goal in the Cougars' 3-2 victory over the Huskies Saturday at the Sherwood Ice Sports Centre.
"He doesn't look at himself as being 5-foot-8 or 5-foot-9. He probably feels six feet tall. That's the way guys that size have to play the game."
Whereas size may not be that much of a factor in junior -- a smaller player at that level would be competing against still-developing teenagers -- the CIS is populated by mature men in their early to mid-20s. Cuthbert is well aware of that.
"I don't mind getting into it with them," said the 21-year-old product of Swift Current. "If I go into the corner skating harder than a big guy, there's a good chance I'm going to knock him off the puck anyway. So that's what I do. I go into every situation as hard as I can. I may be a small guy, but I don't think about that. I'm just thinking about winning those battles."
Cuthbert spent three seasons in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets and Saskatoon Blades before joining the AJHL's Bonnyville Pontiacs in 2007. After scoring only eight goals over 164 WHL regular-season games, he had 31 goals through 93 games with Bonnyville.
To Cuthbert, his production for the Cougars hasn't been a surprise.
"I'm a strong believer that if you put in the hard work, you're going to be rewarded," he said. "I worked hard and maybe I wasn't rewarded in the WHL, but I was rewarded in the AJHL."
Sautner also hasn't been caught off guard by Cuthbert's play this season. The Cougars' bench boss was aware of Cuthbert through the Sask First program and got the lowdown on him from other sources as well.
"All the reports we got about him coming in talked about his tremendous work ethic in practice," Sautner said. "He was drafted in the first round of the bantam draft (20th overall by Kelowna in 2003) because of his work ethic. He's capable of being a captain here, too, because he was the captain in Bonnyville.
"We knew what we were getting. We didn't know how effective he'd be, but we had a good idea of how hard he'd work. So far, he has done everything people were saying he'd do."
"I'm just trying to do the right thing," Cuthbert added when asked about being a leader as a rookie. "When I'm on the bench and see guys do things that I look up to, I make sure I do those things, too. Hopefully the other guys will see me do that as a smaller guy and they'll try to follow up that shift on the next one."
Cody Thoring and Tanner Shultz added short-handed goals for Regina in Saturday's victory. Chad Greenan and Kyle Bortis replied for the Huskies. Brant Hilton was tested 34 times in the Regina net. Huskies goalie David Reekie faced 25 shots.
In Sunday's rematch, Cuthbert was held off the scoresheet as the Huskies won 5-3. Greenan had a pair of goals for Saskatchewan (10-7-1), which got singles from Michael Kaye, Matt Swaby and Brett Parker. Shultz, Devon LeBlanc and Jared Jagow scored for Regina (6-11-1).
Adam Ward made 27 saves for the Cougars. Jeff Harvey stopped 17 shots for Saskatchewan.