After splitting the 2014-2015 season between Pembroke and Brockville of the Central Canada Junior League, Patterson was acquired by the Valley junior A Wildcats Aug. 4 in exchange for future considerations.
Patterson led the MHL in pre-season scoring with four goals and nine points in four pre-season games.
“I like being here a lot,” Patterson said. “Everyone is really friendly and I’ve been made to feel like part of the team from the start.”
Hockey history
Although he played the last two seasons in Quebec and Ontario, Patterson - who will turn 20 in November - is a Nova Scotia native. He grew up in Bedford and played minor hockey there until graduating from bantam.
He then spent three seasons of major midget with the Halifax Taylar Made Titans and was part of back-to-back NSMMHL championship teams in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
In his final season of major midget, he scored 12 goals and had 36 points in 35 regular season games, adding five goals and nine points in 11 playoff games.
Drafted by the Metro Shipbuilders in the fifth round of the 2012 MHL draft, Patterson passed up his first season of junior eligibility to attend Stanstead College, a highly regarded prep school in Quebec, where he completed Grade 12.
During the 2013-2014 season, he had 12 goals and 48 points in 55 games, along with a +12 plus-minus rating.
His scoring was down in his first year of junior hockey, but he did gain valuable experience and finished growing into the six-foot-one, 185-pounder he is today.
With the Wildcats
A forward who is “playing mostly centre right now,” Patterson describes himself as “a two-way forward” who enjoys “putting up points” – something that, if his pre-season is any indication, he will definitely do for the Wildcats this year.
For his last three pre-season games, Patterson played on a line with veterans Grant Janes and Josh Worthen.
The trio showed “great chemistry,” and Patterson picked up most of his points with that line-up. In a 5-3 win over Truro, he scored one goal and assisted on two goals by Janes, one by Worthen and one by Drake Batherson for a five-point night.
“It’s been a great start for me, and for the team,” he said.
The Wildcats went 4-2 in the pre-season and went on to defeat both teams they had lost to.
Wildcats’ head coach Nick Greenough has added size to the Wildcats’ lineup for the new season. Of the new players on the 2015-2016 roster, eight - including Patterson - are six feet tall or better.
“As a team, I’d like to see us go to the Fred Page Cup, maybe even to the Royal Bank Cup,” Patterson said. “It’s a long season. We’ll have to build up to that.”
Individually, Patterson is not as hung up on individual stats - “as long as I’m able to help the team win,” he says – and just wants to make his final season in junior hockey a success.
While he has been comfortable playing with Janes and Worthen, he will be happy playing anywhere as long as the team is winning.
Given that Greenough’s stated goal for this season is that “our fourth line be as good as our first line,” just about anything is possible.
“(The team) is looking good right now,” he said. “We should have a real good shot this year.”
Off the ice, Patterson is looking forward to spending the winter here, and like many of his teammates is taking two courses at Acadia to further his education.
