The 18-year-old centre grew up in the rural town of Hatzic Lake, and always enjoys trips back to the Fraser Valley, no matter how infrequent they may be.

In his first three seasons in the league, Hickmott suited up for the Medicine Hat Tigers, and only came west of the Rockies once or twice a season.

With the Raiders, the super long road trips to the coast are even more limited. Prince Albert is getting all its B.C. division matchups out of the way this weekend, and barring a trade, this will be the one and only hockey related trip home for Hickmott.

When Hickmott rolled through town last year with the Tigers, he estimates he knew about 100 people in the stands at Prospera Centre.

“It’s going to be great to see everyone again,” Hickmott said. “I know that my mom always buys a bunch a tickets and then she distributes them to friends and family and whoever wants them. Then they all sit together. All the aunts and uncles and cousins and people I know from Mission Minor Hockey, they’re all up there in one section.”

They’ll get to see Hickmott do a little more this year. With the Tigers, he was shoe-horned into a third/fourth line checking role, playing limited minutes in low-leverage situations.

Since arriving in Prince Albert, he’s been liberated. This season, he’s enjoying top line minutes playing alongside a couple of pretty talented guys, Justin Bernhardt and Matt Robinson.

He’s got five points (two goals) in seven games thus far.

“Things are going good,” he said. “Personally, I’m enjoying the opportunity to play a bit more. We had a lot of depth up front in Medicine Hat and they never used me on the power play. It was hard getting the ice time to generate any kind of offensive numbers. In Prince Albert, I’m getting lots of minutes and I’m playing with talented guys.”

Bernhardt (20), formerly of the Regina Pats and Kelowna Rockets, leads the Raiders with seven points in seven games.

Robertson (20), is in his third year with Prince Albert and is also a point-per-game player.

Under head coach Bruno Campese, the Raiders play an energetic up-tempo style that suits Hickmott perfectly.

“He stresses a lot of energy and hard work and that’s the persona we have as a team,” Hickmott said. “No matter what’s going on in the game we always have at least one guy going hard on the forecheck. We finish our checks, keep it simple and do all the little things that get you wins.”

Playing an energetic style isn’t always easy when you spend hours and hours travelling on a bus.

In Prince Albert, every game is an epic journey. Saskatoon is the shortest trip at an hour and a half. Regina is three hours away. Swift Current is about four hours away and Brandon takes about six or seven hours.

“You get used to it after a while,” Hickmott said. “I had some pretty long trips playing in Medicine Hat too. As long as you can maintain your focus and be ready for the opening faceoff, it’s not really a big deal.”

Winters in the Canadian prairies are no longer a big deal for the B.C. kid either. His first season in Medicine Hat was tough, dealing with frigid winters.

“It was weird at first, having to plug your car in and everything,” Hickmott laughed. “I come out of the shower with my hair wet and it freezes in a minute. But the fans on the prairies are so nuts about hockey, there’s really no better place to be playing.”