Thunder’s RG Flath willingly takes on veteran role

RG Flath has reached the part of his hockey career where the terminology is different.

Instead of a mentee, the 30-year-old Flath has become a mentor to a Thunder roster that shifted younger after joining the ECHL this season.

There are a lot of terms to describe his experience – he’s the longest-tenured Thunder player with 215 games in the Wichita uniform and one of three who has reached his 30th birthday.

That means Flath is a veteran presence – those are sometimes playfully referred to as an elder statesman. That’s a term not always accepted by players as they transition into a leadership role. Flath embraces it.

“I’m just lucky enough to be, I guess, a veteran presence,” Flath said. “When I started, I had no idea I’d be able to play until I’m 30.”

The only Thunder player older than Flath – Nikita Kashirsky turned 30 in January – is goaltender Tim Boron, who turns 32 in May. Flath is in his fourth season with the Thunder, beating out captain Ian Lowe’s three seasons and 172 games.

In the Central Hockey League, where Flath played the last three seasons before the league was absorbed by the ECHL this summer, Flath’s age was hardly remarkable.

CHL rosters were stocked with hockey lifers and were short on prospects. The ECHL is where many young players are getting their first taste of professional hockey and looking to quickly move on from Double-A.

“I remember when I was in Mississippi (in 2010-11), I think the youngest veteran we had that year was 30,” Flath said. “All the other guys were older than that. So here I am, now one of the oldest guys on the team. It is a little different. It’s something that you have to embrace and hopefully help the younger guys learn the ways.”

Flath began to notice his role – and the terminology – changing before last season. The Thunder was coming off its second straight loss in the CHL finals and had moved on from a lot of players at the core of those teams.

Flath was one of the holdovers, and it occurred to him that even though he was hardly old at 28, he was more familiar with the habits and wishes of coach Kevin McClelland than the rest of the team, and that he could help bring the new players up to speed.

“We had a lot of turnover last year, and even this year we had even more,” Flath said. “You kind of start realizing that Mac runs a lot of the same practices and I have to help the guys know which drills are coming up, which drills are which, kind of what to do in practice.

“Once you understand the drills and remember the names, it makes it a lot of easier. It’s one of those things where you have to be here for a little while to learn the names of the drills.”

Flath has a leadership partner in Lowe, who is more soft-spoken but equally intense. Flath, who has nine goals and 13 assists in 49 games this season, usually plays as if he’s trying to set an example.

“I think everyone notices that we’re two really hard-working players,” Flath said of himself and Lowe. “We’re a little bit more of the grinder, lunch-pail kind of players that have to bring their work ethic every game, rather than just getting by on skill alone.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Thunder’s RG Flath willingly takes on veteran role."