Last year it was Ty Edmonds's time to steal the spotlight.
Starting for Team Cherry at the BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, the Prince George Cougars goalie was superb in one period of action, allowing just one goal.
Today in St. Catharines, Ont., Cougars centre Jansen Harkins will get his chance to shine in the nationally-televised game. He's expecting to play all three periods on a stacked Team Orr roster that includes Erie Otters scoring sensation Connor McDavid. Harkins has been named an assistant captain.
"It's exciting, when you can participate in things like that with guys from across the country, it's pretty cool," said Harkins, who missed both home games this week against the Everett Silvertips to allow time to get used to playing with his Team Orr teammates.
In August, Harkins helped Canada win gold at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where he got to know some of the players he'll see in tonight's game.
"There are some top guys over in the east and I don't really get to play with them much, other than Team Canada stuff," he said. "Just to see what the competition is and what they're like is going to be nice.
"It's a big game for me and everyone going. It's going to be exciting having lots of people there and lots of scouts. That's something I'm trying to get used to here. It's a big year for me and I'm just trying to do the best I can."
Harkins, 17, attracts the attention of NHL scouts wherever he plays. He's currently listed 18th overall on the NHL Central Scouting mid-term rankings of North American skaters and is a potential first-round pick of the NHL draft in June in Philadelphia.
Now in his second WHL season, the six-foot-one, 180-pound Harkins leads the Cougars in scoring with 51 points, including 14 goals, in 46 games.
"Individually I think I'm playing well, pretty steady, but we need to get some more wins here and go on a little bit of a run," said Harkins, whose Cougars have been slumping lately with just one win in their first nine games in January.
"I've tried to focus on my defensive zone play the past couple years, playing a complete game, and especially this year I think I'm a lot better."
The game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet starting at 4 p.m.
Other WHL players on Team Orr are goalie Nick McBride (Prince Albert); defenceman Ryan Pilon (Brandon) and Ivan Provorov (Brandon); forwards Paul Bittner (Portland), Nick Merkley (Kelowna), Ryan Gropp (Seattle)and Glenn Gawdin (Swift Current). Team Cherry has defencemen Noah Juulsen (Everett), Brendan Guhle (Prince Albert) and Brandon Carlo (Tri-City), as well as forwards Jake DeBrusk (Swift Current) and Adam Musil (Red Deer).
Three other Cougars made the NHL's midterm rankings. Left winger Jared Bethune is listed 101st, defenceman Tate Olson is 106th and right winger Brad Morrison is 150th on the list.
