From Atlanta to San Diego to Chicago to Detroit, Jake Slaker has taken a convoluted route to a possible junior hockey future with the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Slaker knows he wants to play next season in the B.C. Hockey League and the Spruce Kings will have a chance to see if he's ready to take that step when they watch him play this weekend at their Spring Prospects Camp at the Coliseum.
The soon-to-be 18-year-old centre now makes his home in Chicago, where he's lived since he was 13, but he's keen on adopting a Prince George address by the dawn of the new season in September.
Slaker comes with impeccable hockey credentials, having just finished a successful season as captain and leading scorer of the Detroit Belle Tire midget triple-A team. Their season ended at the midget Tier 1 national championship in DePare, Wisc., in a quarterfinal 6-3 loss to Shattuck-St. Mary's Prep, the eventual champions.
The five-foot-10, 180 pound Slaker totaled 40 points in 35 league games and Belle Tire finished second to Shattuck-St. Mary's in the overall Tier 1 rankings with a 51-18-4 record. He describes himself as a hardworking two-way playmaker who's good on face-offs and gets more assists than goals.
"During the whole season I think I put up like 80 or 90 points, I'm not sure, I usually try not to look at that until after the season," said Slaker. "The season just ended on Saturday so I'm still in good shape and I'm ready to come out and show what I've got. I might not be the fastest guy but I've got pretty good edgework and I'm pretty strong. My strong suit is my head for the game. I think I'm always a step ahead so I know what's going to happen."
Slaker grew up in a hockey environment. He was born in Atlanta, where his father Dirk was a team doctor for the Atlanta Knights, then a minor pro team in the International Hockey League. Jake went to a few Thrasher NHL games and played inline hockey as a kid, but didn't start playing ice hockey until he moved with his family to San Diego at age 8. He was drafted last year by the Fargo Force of the USHL and played a few games as an affiliated player. The Sioux Eagles of the NAHL also drafted him and offered him a spot but he chose to go to Detroit instead.
Slaker first heard about the Spruce Kings after he met Kings' assistant coach and director of scouting Colton Buffie, who saw him play him this season at a showcase tournament in Minnesota.
The Kings will also have high hopes for 1996-born defenceman Alexander Stoley, a six-foot, 175-pound native of Manteca, Calif. He's back for his second Spruce Kings spring camp and comes highly recommended by Mike Holmes, their California scout, who also coaches Stoley with the Golden State Elite Eagles midget double-A team of the California Amateur Hockey Association. The Eagles lost out in the national tournament quarterfinals last weekend in New Jersey.
"He was the best player on my team this year," said Homes. "He handles the puck well, and rushes the puck, and it almost looks like he's not trying at times. He's the smartest kid I've ever had. I only have to tell him one time to do something and he makes that adjustment."
Stoley knows the BCHL is a magnet for NCAA college scouts and plans to follow that path to university hockey.
"It's one of the best leagues and lots of guys make it to [NCAA] Div. 1," said Stoley. "I was here last year and I liked it, it's really fast-paced, the players are stronger and bigger and it's a step up from what I'm used to. I'm offensive for sure, I rush the puck quite a bit. My skating has gotten a lot faster over the last few years."
The camp attracted 110 players on six teams. Scrimmages at the Coliseum will continue today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and from 4-9 p.m. and from 8:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. on Sunday. The top prospects game is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Kings head coach Dave Dupas is hopeful the camp will solve some of the Kings' 2014-15 roster mysteries.
"There's always going to be two or three kids that stand out [at the camp], and we've signed them every year," said Dupas. "Two years ago Chad Staley and Jeremiah Luedtke dominated the camp and now they're our leading scorers."
Former Citizen advertising manager Lu Verticchio has been named the Spruce Kings director of marketing, replacing Ron Gallo, who has begun a new career in sales at Prince George Motors.
