Long before he got to the NHL, Nick Drazenovic had a decision to make.
As a young teen on the cusp of joining the Western Hockey League as a centre with his hometown Prince George Cougars, the team that chose him 11th overall in the 2002 bantam draft, there was something missing in Drazenovic's development.
He needed somebody to teach him the skills required to become a pro hockey player.
At the time, that help was not available in Prince George, so his parents gave him the option to take the Greyhound bus to Edmonton on weekends and during the summer so he could attend a hockey skills camp. He made that trip religiously and it helped him get to the NHL, but it certainly wasn't easy for him.
For the past three years, Drazenovic has been running his own hockey academy, Northern Elite Hockey, while also tutoring the city's two junior hockey teams. With help from ex-Cougar goalie Ty Edmonds and former junior forward Matt Stang, Drazenovic is teaching players of all ages skills they need to become better hockey players and get more enjoyment out of the game.
"My whole goal is to be the difference that I needed," said the 32-year-old Drazenovic. "I had to leave town and ride the bus to Edmonton every weekend for development and I don't think kids need to be doing that any more. That's the whole goal in this.
"I worked with about 150 kids over the summer and that's just the start. I've heard really positive feedback and we're spreading. Most of the guys I started with three years ago were midget-aged and now they've all aged out and are playing junior, U Sports, NHL or pro. We've had midget group, a bantam group and now I've opened it up to a peewee group and a young atom group. It's busy times, but I'm really excited about the future of hockey in Prince George."
Hired as the Cougars director of player development in February 2017, Drazenovic also served as an interim assistant coach near the end of the 2018-19 season. When the Cougars and Drazenovic were unable to come to terms on a new contract over the summer, the Spruce Kings offered to add him to their staff as director of skill development. He worked out a deal that now has him working with the team with coaches Alex Evin and Jessie Leung in practices once or twice a week, depending on the team's needs and what his schedule will allow.
"I've known Nick for a lot of years and was actually with the Cougars when we drafted him so I've got a relationship with him," said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes. "He was a special player when he played for the Cougars and he's got all kinds of pro experience and he wants to come back and help the kids of the north and we're fortunate to get him."
Drazenovic started refining the Kings skill sets during their extended playoff run last spring and he had a lasting effect on a team that went all the way to the final game of the national junior A championship.
"One of the questions Fin Williams (the Kings' promising 16-year-old Michigan University recruit) said to us this year when we were making sure he was coming back to us was, 'Is Nick Drazenovic going to help out with the skills stuff?' Fin got to know him a bit and really liked the work he did," said Hawes.
"He's such a positive guy out there with them and those skills are ultra-important in today's game, like face-offs for the centremen and how to take draws. He's done a great job with Northern Elite Hockey and it's doing well. They had another camp (last Friday) on a pro-D day and it was sold out. He's working with a lot of young kids in the north, not only through the hockey season to develop them but also in the summer. He's teaching them off-ice training and nutrition and all those things that are important in today's game."
Considered one of the most popular Cougar players in the team's 26-year history in Prince George, Drazenovic played nearly four-and-a-half seasons as a WHL centre from 2002-07. He was a homegrown Cougar - born and raised in the city where he first joined hockey at age seven - and he made an immediate impact in the WHL in his 15-year-old season, scoring four goals and four assists in 15 games with the Cats. In a career that spanned 281 regular season games he finished with 77 goals and 214 points and totaled nine goals and 19 points in 24 WHL playoff games.
All of his playoff points came in the Cougars' 2007 playoff run when he was captain of a team that made it to the third round, eventually losing to the Vancouver Giants in a five-game Western Conference championship series.
He left the city that year to begin a nine-year injury-plagued pro career which included 12 games in the NHL and more than 500 in the AHL. Drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the sixth round in 2005, he spent four seasons with the Blues' American Hockey League affiliate in Peoria and was called up for three NHL games with the Blues in 2010-11. Signed as free agent with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he was on the ice with the Jackets for eight games in 2012-13, and had one game as a Pittsburgh Penguin the following season as a call-up from the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Drazenovic's pro career ended in 2016 after a 35-game AHL stint with the San Antonio Rampage.
One month into the season, Evin is already seeing the benefits of Drazenovic passing on his pro hockey knowledge to the Spruce King players.
"He's got a passion for it, being from the area, and he does a lot for skill development, not just with our team but just in the whole northern region," said Evin. "All his work is super-positive and our players love having him out. Not every team can say they have someone who's played games in the NHL willing to work with them and we've very grateful Nick is on our staff this year. Everyone is benefiting from Drazzy being around."
For more information on Drazenovic's academy, he can be reached at www.facebook.com/northernelitehockey.
