Countdown to Camp with Parker Stanfield

Feature Stories

Countdown to Camp with Parker Stanfield by David Michaud

For most WHL rookies, the adjustments are many. Bigger players who are faster, stronger, and more skilled than any of the opponents they ever faced before are just some of the challenges for your average rookie. Parker Stanfield wasn’t your average WHL rookie last season. You might say Parker’s challenges were just a little different.

The 6’0”, 160 pound forward hails from Orange County, California. When you think of the “O.C.” pucks and ice aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind. Stanfield had plenty of both last season and I’m not just talking about the ice at the CN Centre. A laughing Stanfield noted “all that snow and ice wasn’t exactly what I was used to. My home in Anaheim Hills is about 20 minutes from the beach." Despite the potential for a little culture shock, Stanfield took it all in stride. “I really looked at it as an opportunity to see a part of the world I had never really seen. When I was young my squirt team went to a tournament in Toronto, but that’s about it. The travel was pretty tough in the beginning but once I got used to it, I really started to enjoy it. It’s so much fun hanging out with the boys and visiting the other rinks.”

The other adjustments, the ones that all WHL rookies face were a bit tougher to get used to. “It was such a huge adjustment for me. Just the speed of the WHL was so much faster than what I was used to playing Midget the season before. You have to make decisions so much faster as well. It definitely got better the more I got used to it all.”

Stanfield’s fist goal came in just his 6^th WHL game. The goal was a big one too! Parker scored the tying goal at 17:18 of the 3^rd period before 4,000 hostile fans in Brandon. “Ah, of course I remember it well” said Stanfield “I won the draw and the puck ended up at the point, Ty Wishart looked at me and put the puck on goal, I just went to the net and put it in.” The goal set the stage for a dramatic win as just a short time later at the 19:12 mark, Greg Gardner scored the go ahead and game winning goal.

All in all, Stanfield’s first month in the WHL was a good one as he posted 5 points in 13 games. The offensive totals would slow down from there though as the rigors of his first WHL campaign started to set in. Once February rolled around, that would all start to change. “Right around then I really started to feel more comfortable, even in practice I felt great. I really think that is when is started coming together for me.”

Stanfield’s new found comfort started to show in the stats column as well. Almost half of his 23 points came over the final 18 games of the season, including 3 goals in the clubs final 5 games.

That strong finish leads many to think that the 2008-2009 season could be a breakout one for Stanfield. Much like a fellow Orange County resident who plies his trade down Hwy 97 for the rival Kelowna Rockets, Colin Long had an incredible season for Kelowna posting a 72 point improvement over his sophomore season in the WHL. Colin Long is a year older than Parker Stanfield, so he admits that he doesn’t know Long well on personal level, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t take notice of his accomplishments on the ice last season. “It was actually Dallas Thompson who pointed out to me that Long had gone from 28 points all the way up to 100. It was pretty incredible. That really made me think about things and made me want to work hard so I can give myself a chance to have that kind of success.” 

The similarities even go a little further between the two. Much like Colin Long was passed up his first time at the NHL Draft, so was Stanfield this past summer. After Long’s breakout season with the Rockets, the Phoenix Coyotes selected him and that second chance for Long is one that Stanfield hopes to take advantage of himself this season. “There were a lot of people who doubted that I could play at the Major Junior level and I was able to prove them wrong last year by making Prince George. I would love nothing more than to prove that I can play at the next level too.”

Stanfield will get his chance as the Cougars open training camp on August 24^th.