Dan Falloon
Ryan Faragher received a rude welcome to the NAHL.
The former Fort Frances Jr. Sabre lost his first three games as his Bismarck Bobcats, the defending Central Division champs, sputtered out to an 0-5-2 start.
“It started out kind of rough, just trying to feel out the league, I guess,” Faragher reasoned.
“But the more I got to work with my goalie coach, Layne Sedevie, the more confident I got in the net.
“As the season went on, our team and myself got stronger, and now we’re sitting on top of the Central Division looking to win our division,” he added.
Faragher admitted the jump from the SIJHL to the NAHL was a significant one—even after leading the local loop in wins (24) and shutouts (five) in 2008-09 as the Sabres advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
“Playing in the ‘SI,’ in my first two years of junior, it really gave me a taste of what type of hockey junior ‘A’ was,” he recalled. “It was tougher, you’ve got stronger, older players that are more experienced.
“Jumping from that league to this league, there’s a big skill level difference,” he added. “The players here are a lot faster and they’re a lot more skilled with the moves they can pull off.”
But Faragher and the Bobcats have since worked out their early-season kinks, going 31-4-6 since the slow start to surge out to a 12-point lead atop their division.
In that same span, Faragher has posted a 19-3-6 record.
The 19-year-old started to take the reins of the starting job in mid-December, winning seven-straight starts from Dec. 12 through Jan. 8.
The tide had begun to run in Faragher’s favour a couple of weeks earlier as he was given the chance to run with the starting job.
After battling with Ryan Massa early in the season, Faragher won out on Nov. 26 when Massa was traded to the USHL’s Fargo Force.
Faragher is 13-2-3 since the deal went down.
“We both were battling pretty hard there for about a month, and once he got the call up, it made me feel pretty good that the hard work paid off,” said Faragher.
“From there, I played the majority of the games until just after Christmas.”
The Bobcats picked up Jake Williams to share time with Faragher between the pipes in mid-January, and Williams has been a revelation—winning all six of his starts while posting three shutouts.
“We’ve been rotating until playoffs so I can get a bit of a rest,” explained Faragher, who has a 2.20 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
“He’s better than some of the other goalies we’ve had throughout the year, and that helps push me in practice and make myself better, which will eventually help out the team in the end.”
Faragher’s 19 wins and three shutouts tie him for second in the league in both categories.
His play earned him an invite to the NAHL’s Top Prospects Tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich. in January, where he helped Team Central to a 2-1 record against all-stars from the league’s three other divisions.
“That was definitely the best hockey I’ve seen in my life,” recalled Faragher, who allowed five goals in the three games, recording a .921 save percentage.
“They’re the top players from each division, and I got a taste of what it’s going to be like if we make it to the national tournament.
“The shots I faced were pretty tough, so I felt like I did pretty well,” he added.
Faragher isn’t looking far beyond this season, acknowledging a jump to college may be in the cards although another year of seasoning in Bismarck still is in the mix.
“As far as college commitments go, I’m not too sure if I’ll be here next year or if I’ll be at a college,” he admitted. “I’m looking to play one more year of junior and commit for 2011-12.
“If I do play another year of junior, I’d like to play it here.”
But Faragher does have an eye on the college ranks, and credits his development over the past several months into making him college-ready.
“I feel that I’ve gone from just a junior ‘A’ hockey player and I’m turning into a college hockey player,” he remarked.
“There’s that jump that you’ve got to make, and this year, I think I’ve made that jump, and I’m ready to move on in the next year or so,” he noted.
