CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Advice from his father years ago has served Thomas Casey well.
“My dad always . . . stressed how crucial it was to move your feet,” he said before Thursday’s Charlottetown Islanders practice. “It’s been working for me since I was young, so I kind of stick to it.”
Speed has always been Casey’s biggest calling card.
It provided the Charlottetown native a chance to be drafted by his hometown team in 2016 and play an energy role as a 17-year-old for a squad that went to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) semifinal.
But when the club’s coaching staff was looking for someone to complement its dynamic duo of Nikita Alexandrov and Brett Budgell, Casey’s name was floated.
“He’s one of the fastest guys, probably, in our league,” head coach Jim Hulton said. “When he plays in straight lines, he’s a nightmare for defencemen.”
The early returns on the experiment have been very positive.
The Alexandrov line has been producing, and it enabled the team to move veteran Derek Gentile to a line with Will Sirman and Liam Peyton while keeping its trio of Daniel Hardie, Keith Getson and Keith Gursoy together.
“It created depth on three lines,” Hulton said. “We’ve been getting production top to bottom, and (Casey has) been a big part of that.”
Casey said he is just trying to keep his game simple while playing on a more offensive line.
“It’s been fun playing with those two,” he said. “My game is playing fast and getting in on the forecheck and distributing the puck, and I think that has been meshing well with Nikita and Brett.”
And while Casey was primarily used in an energy role in his rookie season in Charlottetown, his past has included playing with some high-end skill guys.
At the 2015 Canada Games in Prince George, B.C., he played with Jeremy McKenna, who now is one of the top scorers in the league with the Moncton Wildcats, and Carson MacKinnon, who has always been known for his strong two-way game during his four seasons with the Rimouski Oceanic.
He also played on a line at Notre Dame with Seacow Pond native Brad Morrissey, an Islanders draft pick who has seven points in 17 games this season with Tri-City in the United States Hockey League.
“He knows how to score,” Hulton said of Casey. “You combine his hands with his feet, he has a couple of categories that stick out above the crowd. That gives him the opportunity to be a top-six guy.”
Casey grew up near Simmons Sports Centre in Charlottetown and remembers guys like Marc-Andre Gragnani, David Laliberte, Chris Doyle, Josh Currie and Ben Duffy wearing the P.E.I. Rocket jersey. The club struggled for a number of years but has dramatically improved under new local ownership and the name change to the Charlottetown Islanders for the 2013-14 season. It has been to back-to-back league semifinals after not making it that far since arriving in Prince Edward Island in 2003.
The organization’s turnaround made it intriguing for Casey after playing two seasons with the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox, Sask. Heading into the 2016 QMJHL draft, Casey had an interview with scout Trevor Birt and knew there was a possibility they could select him.
Casey was just waking up in Saskatchewan when he received the call from Charlottetown they had selected him in the sixth round.
“I was ecstatic. It was an unreal feeling,” Casey said.
Casey’s parents, Tim and Liz, attended the draft at the Eastlink Centre and went down to the floor to the Islanders table to meet the staff and get their son’s jersey.
With the Islanders loading up for a run with veterans like Kameron Kielly, Filip Chlapik and Daniel Sprong, Casey decided to return to Saskatchewan for his second season of midget. He had conversations with United States colleges, but when the Isles offered him a spot with last year’s squad, he quickly made the decision.
“I wanted to play here,” Casey said. “I just really wanted to jump on board.”
After a somewhat inconsistent start to the season, the Islanders appear to be hitting their stride.
The Islanders had a 14-7-2-0 record before last night’s game in Bathurst, N.B., and had gone 7-2-1-0 in their last 10 games.
Casey said each line and defence pairing are finding chemistry a third of the way through the campaign.
“We’re starting to gel as a group and find our identity,” he said. “We’re all starting to produce, and it’s been fun to be part of.”
The Islanders host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tonight at 7 p.m. and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar Sunday at 3 p.m.
Biography
Thomas Casey
Who – An 18-year-old forward with the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Acquired – Sixth-round pick (106th overall) in 2016.
Personal – Casey is a five-foot-nine, 185-pound Charlottetown native.
Casey said: “You have to work hard every day in practice and do the extra stuff in the gym and on the ice. You can’t take each day for granted. You have to seize every opportunity you get, especially in this league, because you’re as good as your last shift.”
Head coach Jim Hulton: “He was kind of an under-the-radar big piece of last year’s team because he filled a lot of valuable roles. . . It’s a credit to Thomas’ versatility.”
Did you know? Casey has won 42 per cent of his 109 faceoffs this season and is a plus-13.
Statistics via eliteprospects.com
Season League GP G A Pts.
2013-14 PEI Bantam AAA 28 22 19 41
2014-15 Saskatchewan Bantam AAA 35 15 20 35
2015 Canada Games 6 2 12 14
2015-16 Saskatchewan Midget AAA 44 12 12 24
2016-17 Saskatchewan Midget AAA 29 14 16 30
2017-18 Quebec Major Junior 60 8 4 12
2018-19 Quebec Major Junior 22 4 11 15
Need to know
A look at the Charlottetown Islanders upcoming schedule.
Tonight
7 p.m. – Cape Breton at Charlottetown.
Sunday
3 p.m. – Baie-Comeau at Charlottetown.
Friday
7:30 p.m. – Acadie-Bathurst at Charlottetown.
Sunday, Dec. 2
3 p.m. – Val-d’Or at Charlottetown.
Thursday, Dec. 6
7 p.m. – Quebec at Charlottetown.
Friday, Dec. 7
7 p.m. – Charlottetown at Moncton.
Sunday, Dec. 9
3 p.m. – Halifax at Charlottetown.
Wednesday, Dec. 12
10 a.m. – Moncton at Charlottetown.
Friday, Dec. 14
7 p.m. – Charlottetown at Saint John.
Saturday, Dec. 15
7 p.m. – Charlottetown at Halifax.
Christmas break.
League trade period runs from Dec. 16-Jan. 6.
Friday, Dec. 28
7:30 p.m. – Halifax at Charlottetown.
Saturday, Dec. 29
7 p.m. – Acadie-Bathurst at Charlottetown.
Monday, Dec. 31
2 p.m. – Charlottetown at Saint John.
Did you know? Cape Breton beat Baie-Comeau 5-4 in overtime Thursday in Sydney, N.S., with former Isles forward Mitchell Balmas scoring the winner for his third goal of the night. Baie-Comeau is ranked seventh in the Kia CHL Top 10.
Special teams – Charlottetown entered Friday with the second worst power play (14.4 per cent) in the league and the third worst penalty kill (72.7).
Home/road splits – The Isles entered last night’s game with a 6-5-1-0 road record and an 8-2-1-0 mark at home.
