Holden anchors new look blueline

Eric J. Welsh, The Progress

September 18, 2007

At this time last year Nick Holden was a wide-eyed rookie, making the jump from Alberta junior A hockey to the Western Hockey League. At 19 years old, he played 67 regular season game for the expansion Chilliwack Bruins and didn’t look out of place.

The native of St. Albert, Alberta, tallied three goals and 23 assists as a rookie and advanced defensively as the year went on.

By the time the playoffs rolled around, Holden was receiving key minutes at even strength and on both special teams units.

It was a sign of things to come.

Holden returns to the Bruins this season as the new go-to guy on defence. Along with Holden, the blueline returns veterans Matt McCue, Scott Maetche, Dylan Chapman and Cody Hobbs.

Of that group, Holden is the one who leaps out for having the most well-rounded game. Last year was a learning experience. This year he expects a big leap forward.

“You still have to come in and work your butt off,” Holden said. “I played a lot last year and I know they’re going to be expecting that and more from me this year. That tells me I need to work harder than I did last year to succeed.”

Holden spent 2004-06 in the Alberta Junior A Hockey League, toiling for the Camrose Kodiaks and Sherwood Park Crusaders — two of the AJHL’s top teams.

It was an adjustment coming to Chilliwack where the team was just starting out and taking its lumps on a nightly basis.

Holden was able to rely on veteran Stephane Lenoski for advice early on, but Lenoski was traded away to Spokane just after Christmas.

“He was my defensive partner from the beginning of the year,” Holden recalled. “When he got traded everything got a little crazy. All the defencemen were moving around trying to find new pairings. Lineker and I eventually found some chemistry, but now we’re back to square one, trying to find some new pairings for the start of the season.”

There’s a very good chance Holden will start off with Czech import David Hoda, Chilliwack’s top pick in the 2007 Euro draft.

Hoda came to Canada with a limited grasp of the English language, and that could create communication issues with his blueline partner.

But Holden believes he and Hoda can speak to each other through the language of hockey.

“I think hockey has its own little language,” Holden noted. “After a few weeks he’ll have it all figured out and he’ll have a good idea what I’m doing out there. When I played with Lenoski and Lineker, I knew they would take that extra risk and I made sure I would be covering up for them. After a while you just know what your defensive partner is up to.”

Holden may be the guy taking a few extra risks this year. Hoda has offensive tools, but he’ll be asked to focus on defence first in the early going.

That leaves Holden as the guy with the skills to contribute the most offence from the blueline.

“Against the top lines you can’t be a flashy player,” Holden observed. “You’ve got to shut them down first and then you can go play offence. I’m not going to change my game too much from last year. I always feel I have the green light to take some chances, but I’ve got to be smart about what I do and when I do get chances, I’ve got to bury them.”

Catch Holden in the home opener Saturday at 7 p.m.