After spending over a month on the sidelines, Jeff Truitt is back behind the bench for the Prince Albert Raiders.
The veteran bench boss was away from the team due to a medical leave of absence after undergoing eye surgery during the holiday break.
Truitt says he has been given the all clear from doctors to return to work.
“If something is important, it’s your vision. It sure takes things away and we still have a couple of stages that we have to go through after the season’s done. It’s not over yet, but it’s good enough to go. I’ve got the clearance from the doctors and all they are saying is just be careful, but it’s hard to do that as a coach and you dive right in.”
It’s been nearly six weeks total since Truitt was last behind the bench for the Raiders. The last game that he coached for Prince Albert was back on Dec. 18, an 8-5 loss to the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome ahead of the holiday break. Truitt says he is looking forward to getting back to his day-to-day activities as the Raider head coach.
“I’m really excited. The layoff is too long, especially when you come off the Christmas break. It’s an important time to get rolling. The guys did a tremendous job of getting the team prepared and getting wins and that’s what we needed. It’s great to be back on it and pushing forward.”
Since he began his coaching career in the 1993-94 season as an assistant coach for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, Truitt has been a fixture behind the bench.
Truitt says the break was the longest he has had to take in his entire coaching career.
“I’ve never missed a game. All of a sudden you’re laying low here for about a month. It wasn’t fun. My wife will tell you that as well. It got to be a little bit lowly at times just because you weren’t active. If somebody on the team goes down, somebody steps in. It’s no different with us (coaches) and they did a great job.”
While Truitt was at home in Red Deer recovering with family, Ryan McDonald took over the reins as the Raider head coach on an interim basis.
Under McDonald, the Raiders posted a 10-4-0-1 record and have vaulted into first place in the WHL’s East Division with an overall record of 25-15-3-1 on the campaign and sit two points clear of the Saskatoon Blades for the division lead.
Truitt says McDonald did a tremendous job in his absence.
“(I’m) absolutely just as proud as punch, with him and Conor (Yawney). The way that they kept things the same and they had to make decisions like we all have to do, they did it with class and represented the team perfectly. It was a great training ground for them to have the organization, the team in their hands.”
Despite being in Red Deer with his family while recovering, Truitt was still involved with some of the day-to-day operations of the Raiders. While his vision was limited, Truitt was still able to talk with members of the Raider coaching staff and general manager Curtis Hunt over the phone.
Truitt says those conversations were important to him because it gave him something to think about during his recovery.
“We had calls almost every morning, we would talk about the day and talk about the strategies going in and what we were thinking for lineups and things like that. You felt involved that way. I thank them because they would call it every morning, but talking with Curtis (Hunt) and everybody, your brain was still going, which was great.”
Truitt was able to attend one game as a spectator during his leave of absence. On Jan. 11, the Raiders picked up a 3-0 win over the Red Deer Rebels on the road at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
Despite Red Deer being well-known across the WHL for their ice cream, Truitt says he did not partake and enjoyed being able to visit with the team on that occasion.
“I did not have the ice cream, I stayed away. I saw Ryan McDonald had a big jug of it so I was laughing at him for that but it was great to see the team. There was a big void there sitting in the stands. It brings it back to your playing days when you were scratched and you had to watch and you didn’t like it and (I) certainly didn’t like it as a coach. I was glad the guys came up with the win.”
With nearly three quarters of the WHL season being played, the Raiders are looking to maintain their lead atop the East Division. The Raiders have picked up points in their last seven contests but only have a small lead in the divisional race.
The Saskatoon Blades, Swift Current Broncos and Brandon Wheat Kings all sit within five points of the Raiders in the East Division standings. Truitt says the Raiders aren’t resting on their laurels and still striving to improve.
“This is the time right now from here on. There are 24 games left and you can solidify yourself. Everything’s so tight, you can drop from first to fourth to whatever it might be. Teams are really buckling down now and we’re no different. We know that being in this area, it doesn’t mean anything right now. It does, but it doesn’t, it’s where you finish and how our team’s performing. We just want to continue to get better. We’re not going to sit here and harp about first place. We’re going to do our jobs and continue to build and keep improving.”
Truitt will be back behind on the bench on Wednesday night when the Raiders welcome the Regina Pats to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
