Winterhawks’ Brendan Leipsic, Nicolas Petan aim for back-to-back 100-plus point seasons

Portland Winterhawks forwards Brendan Leipsic and Nicolas Petan weren’t expected to lead the Canadian Hockey League, let alone the Western Hockey League, in scoring last year.

Leipsic, mainly known for his grit and work ethic, was coming off a 58-point season. It seemed he was capable of improving his point total by 25 or so points, but doubling it appeared out of his grasp.

Petan, meanwhile, only scored 35 points the season before. Not to mention, he failed to register a single point in 22 playoff games. It appeared he would quite likely score at least 20 more points with a season under his belt and more responsibility in the Winterhawks’ offense. But it seemed absurd to even suggest he would triple and then some his previous 35 points.

Yet when the CHL regular-season was all said and done, Leipsic and Petan sat at the top of the scoring totem pole with 120 points apiece. They didn’t care that there was an overwhelming consensus that they wouldn’t stand a chance against Halifax Mooseheads stars Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin and teammate Ty Rattie in the scoring race. They just went out onto the ice every shift with the mindset that they were going to score.

“It comes down to just ignoring what people think you can do,” says 19-year-old Leipsic. “You just have to work hard and things will happen. That’s what we did. We just kept on working and the puck would go in for us.”

Petan, 18, knew he was poised for a breakout season, but even he couldn’t have predicted he would notch 120 points as a sophomore.

“I expected to have a big year,” says the 5-foot-9, 173-pound forward. “The year before I didn’t play as much, so I knew with more ice time I would show more. But 120 points is a lot of points. I wouldn’t have told you before the start of the year that I’d score that many.”

This year, despite that they’ve clearly proven themselves as elite scorers, it seems the odds are against them to repeat 120-point seasons. They not only don’t have their partner in crime anymore, Rattie who has since moved onto the St. Louis Blues organization, but precedents also clearly show lightning doesn’t usually unexpectedly strike twice.

Nonetheless, no different from last year, Leipsic and Petan don’t care whether their critics think they can pull it off or not.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but we’ve proven ourselves before so it doesn’t bother me if they think we can’t because we’ve shown we can,” says Petan, who has scored five goals and 13 points in seven games this year. “To score that many points you have to have pucks bounce your way and stuff, but we showed last year we can do it.”

As for who will replace Rattie on their line, Leipsic believes the Winterhawks have several players in their arsenal that are suitable candidates.

“We miss Ty, but we have such a deep team that there are lots of players that can play top-line minutes,” says the 5-foot-10, 177-pound forward, who has potted one goal in two games since returning from the Nashville Predators organization. “Right now I think Adam De Champlain or Keegan Iverson will be playing with us. They are both good players with skill.”

Even though Petan led all CHL forwards in the 2013 NHL draft class in points, 18 major junior snipers were selected ahead of him before the Winnipeg Jets snagged him with the 43^rd overall draft choice. Albeit Petan is happy he found a home in Winnipeg, having so many teams doubt him has put a chip on his shoulder this season.

“Whenever teams doubt you it makes you want to prove them wrong,” says Petan. “I am happy the Jets drafted me. It’s great to go to a Canadian team and a great organization like them. But it kind of gives me more to prove since all of those teams passed me up.”

Although it doesn’t exactly pertain to personal accolades, Petan, Leipsic and frankly the rest of the Winterhawks have extra motivation to repeat as WHL champions with head coach-GM Mike Johnston back behind the bench. They want him to experience the full ride of a MasterCard Memorial Cup run since he couldn’t last year because of his suspension due to player-benefit violations.

“It absolutely gives us more motivation to win another championship,” says Leipsic. “We won it for him (Johnston) last year, but we want to win another for him with him back. It gives us more drive to not only score goals, but also block shots and play good defensively.”

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen