Other than a scoring outburst prior to the Christmas break, Langan hadn’t put up a tremendous amount of points in his career, finishing with 16 goals and 42 points in 2017-18. It would therefore have been easy to write off the former ninth-round WHL Bantam Draft pick as he headed into his overage season.
As it turns out, much like sleeping on the Warriors, that would have been a tremendous mistake.
Langan put together one of the most impressive single season improvements not only in team history, but in the history of the Western Hockey League, as he scored 53 goals, 60 assists and 113 points to finish second in league scoring – a stunning 71 point improvement from one year earlier.
His showing played no small part in the Warriors’ impressive campaign as they not only avoided the fate of other elite teams from the previous season, they put together another 40-win season while setting a new team record for road wins in the process.
So while the team’s first-round loss to the Saskatoon Blades stung, it came with the pride that the team had overachieved in many eyes, and that he was a key part of that success.
“It’s a tough feeling, especially since it’s my last year and it ending that way in OT,” Langan said of the loss. “It’s disappointing that we fell short but I’m proud of all these guys in the room. All season long everyone doubted us and no one thought we’d make the playoffs, but they all did a good job and I’m proud of them.”
The final game of the series was typical of the entire four-game set – close and hard-hitting, with goals coming at a premium.
That is, unless you decide that, with your team down a goal and shorthanded in the final minutes, you’re going to singlehandedly force-of-will a goal to force overtime. That is exactly what Langan did, with his goal electrifying a Mosaic Place crowd that had moments earlier thought things were going to end a lot earlier than they did.
“I knew I had to go out and get something done because we were running out of time,” Langan said. “I’m glad it went in and gave us a chance, but we still fell short and that’s tough.
“It’s tough getting swept in the playoffs like that, but in the regular season we broke the away record and no one thought we’d ever do that,” he added. “It’s a great bunch of guys in there and everyone works hard, they all played great and there’s a bright future for this club.”
With his overage season officially behind him, Langan took the opportunity to thank the team he’d been a part of for the past five season.
“I wouldn’t want to spend it anywhere else,” he said. “I’ve been here more than four years, I was drafted here and been around all these guys for so long, I grew up here and became a man. I’d just like to thank everyone, all the coaches for what they did for me here, Tim, Alan, Learsy and Kinger, you can’t ask for a better group of guys to help you develop and I’m thankful for it.”
