WHL Prospects Draft Preview: Scout’s Edition (Part 2)
We continue our WHL Prospects Draft Preview with a scout who has been all over Western Canada since joining the Raiders three years ago: Wylie Riendeau.
“I’ve been kind of all over the place from BC to Manitoba,” Riendeau explained. “I get to do a lot of travelling, which is pretty fun, and I get to watch hockey at the same time.”
While Riendeau has been a part of the Raiders’ hockey ops team, he has also owned a role in the SJHL, as the Assistant General Manager and Head Scout of the Battlefords North Stars. He explained how balancing the two teams has been working for him.
“I’ve been with Battlefords for 11 years now. Basically I started there as a regional scout and worked my way up into a Head Scout and Assistant GM role. When I was able to get on with the Raiders, Curtis (Hunt) was really good about letting me stay on with the Battlefords and helping out both organizations. There’s a really good working relationship. With me being with both the Raiders and North Stars, I can go out and watch a lot of different players and see a lot of guys at a younger age across Western Canada.”
Working for two teams means even more time spent in different rinks across the country. In Riendeau’s case, he has been to nearly 400 hockey games this season.
“It’s quite a bit of time in the rink, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Riendeau’s path to becoming a scout came a fairly traditional way. After his playing days were over, he knew he wanted to stay involved in the sport, and obtaining a scouting position came quickly.
“I played all my minor hockey in Moose Jaw, where I’m from. I played until I was 23, just at a small junior college in North Dakota.
“Just being involved in hockey my whole life, I guess it was just my passion from a young age. I was never able to get to an extremely high level as a player, so I tried to get into scouting. It happened to work out with Battlefords at the start, and then I was obviously able to get on with the Raiders. Just the love for the game and not being able to keep playing, I thought the next best thing would be scouting.”
In his three years with the Raiders and over a decade with the North Stars, Riendeau has seen thousands of players across the rinks he has travelled to. But when looking for players that would fit into the Raiders system, he explained what he is looking for out of each and every individual he sets his eyes on.
“It’s kind of cliché to say, but we look for high character players and people, which I think majority of organizations do,” he said. “But I think we do a good job of honing in on that, and making sure we’re getting a good person that does have high character and is good in the community. I think that’s very important, but as for on ice skills the way I see it, I think you’ve got to be able to skate nowadays to play. Skating is a pretty big portion of the game now, and if you can’t skate, you can’t play.”
Are there any players that the Raiders have drafted that Riendeau can be proud to say was a player most touted by himself?
“That’s a tough question, but Jonah Sivertson (2023 4th round pick) would probably be one. Being from the south I watched him lots last year. He’s really developing into a nice player, so that would be a guy we had our eye on most of the year that I got to see play a lot.”
Once all the hustle and bustle of driving across Western Canada is done for the summer, Riendeau explains the vibe of the off-season.
“I’d say summer is more relaxed. There are a couple of tournaments that you could go to and see guys that are heading into their second year of U15.”
When he’s not busy in the rink, Riendeau has another job in the summer. He is a crop protection manager for Co-op in southern Saskatchewan. So while the pace of the hockey season slows down for a few months, once one job ends for the summer, another is just getting started.
“Hockey coincides with how my work goes. It’s busier in the winter and my job (with Co-op) is slower than the summer time. I don’t know how relaxed it is, but on the hockey side it’s a lot more relaxed.”