Rob Raju grew up in Prince George and as long as he's been a hockey player he's wondered what it would be like to play for his hometown Spruce Kings.
He got to wear the Kings' crown on his chest this past weekend and in his audition with the B.C. Hockey League team, he clearly stood out among the crowd on the ice at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
The 17-year-old left winger scored four goals for Team Grey in his first game at the Spruce Kings Spring Prospects Camp and continued to impress Spruce Kings' management with his offensive abilities. He was an obvious choice to make the cut for Sunday's Top Prospects Game and was finally rewarded for his efforts with a goal late in the game, the only goal Team Blue scored in a 6-1 loss to Team White.
"He was fantastic in every game and he's enjoying the game of hockey," said Team White coach Ryan Howse, who coached Raju with the Coast Inn of the North Tier 1 midget Cougars
"That's the biggest thing, he's not thinking of not playing anymore. He's in love with the game again and that's why he's playing so well. He definitely opened some eyes this weekend and if he keeps that up and has a good summer and he puts on some weight and gets a bit stronger, then I could see him playing here (for the Spruce Kings) for sure."
The Coast Inn Cougars capped a dream season by winning the provincial championship a month ago in Comox and Howse says Raju exemplifies how a positive attitude can bring out the best in a player.
"He doesn't accept losing to the guy he lines up beside and that's something he learned with us and he's bringing what he learned at this level," Howse said. "He did an outstanding job this weekend."
Raju played on a line Sunday with Trey Thomas, who played for the Cariboo Cougars, and James Gordon, the Tier 1 Cougars leading scorer.
"James Gordon had a tremendous camp and Rob Raju is a better player than I realized he was," said Spruce Kings general manager Mike Hawes. "Rob's a tall strong kid who is hard on the puck and he can score. He has a real good skill set and he's not far away from being ready to play in this league.
"James possesses good enough skills to play in this league. He's not the biggest kid and it would be a bit of a transition for him. Both those kids showed extremely well at the camp. It's really nice to see the local contingent do well at this camp."
The Kings will have a few months to finalize their invitation list for their training camp in late August and Raju hopes he will be on it.
"I want to make this team really bad - it would be cool playing for my hometown team. I've dreamed about it since I was a kid watching," said the six-foot-two, 176-pound Raju.
"This was definitely the best year of all our lives, we had so much fun and we were on the better side of things and won lots of games and we couldn't have asked for a better season. Even Cariboo, they made it to the finals and had a great year too."
The Maser twins from Houston - Tyler and Josh - were tough to contain Sunday for the guys in blue and they had a hand in four of the six Team White goals. Tyler Maser finished with three goals and an assist, while Josh had a goal and an assist.
The Masers were key ingredients for the Cariboo Cougars major midget team and although they have one more year of midget eligibility, both are listed with the Prince Albert Raiders and they plan to attend the Raiders' WHL camp in August. But before that, they'll take in a few more junior A spring camps. If they play like they did on the weekend, they won't have any problems locking up offers to jump to junior hockey next year.
"Obviously the main thing I want to make next year is Prince Albert but this was a really well-run camp and it was fun to take part in it," said Josh Maser, a six-foot-three, 210-pound left winger. "Absolutely (there's a chance he could play for the Spruce Kings), it's a good town to play in. The fans are really good here."
Braeden Young and California import defenceman Nino O'Connor also scored for Team White, both in the first period, on Team Blue goalie Aaron Jakubowski. Drew Friesen and Jake Sweet each gave up a goal in their 20 minutes of game action in net for Team Blue.
Aris Anagnostopoulos and Matthew Ens, who played the first and second periods respectively for Team White, were flawless. Marcus Allen was in goal when Raju snapped in a low shot on a perfect feed to the side of the net from Thomas.
Tyler Maser completed his hat trick with 49 seconds left. The six-foot-three, 205-pound right winger was placed on the Raiders' protected list the day after they picked Josh in the fourth round of the 2014 WHL bantam draft. He and Josh played on the same line all through the camp and Tyler is hoping that won't be the last game he plays with his brother.
"It was fun because all our lives we've played together and we know where each other is all the time and he set me up for a few," said Tyler.
Hawes wasn't surprised to see the Masers creating offence like they did in the camp, but there was also a set of twins from Prince George who impressed him.
"The Masers are big strong kids who possess real good skill and work hard and they're very physical so in a camp like this, with a wide range of ages, they can excel," said Hawes.
"The Sutton brothers also did extremely well at the camp. Devin, a forward from the Cariboo Cougars, and Jarin, who was a defenceman with the Tier 1 team, really stood out."
