Jake LeBrun was hoping to celebrate a milestone moment in his career. Instead, he was left to deal with crushing disappointment when none of the 22 Western Hockey League teams called his name during the 2010 bantam draft.
LeBrun didn't dwell on the unwelcome development for long. Rather, he promised himself he'd work harder than ever before to achieve his WHL goal.
Now, just shy of a year later, he has been rewarded.
LeBrun, a 15-year-old right winger, has been added to the protected list of the WHL's Portland Winterhawks. He received the news from Winterhawks scout Trevor Sprague, shortly after Sprague coached him at a B.C. Hockey Under-17 regional camp a couple weeks ago at the Elksentre
"I was really excited," said LeBrun, born and raised in Prince George.
"I was upset about [not getting drafted] for the first couple days but then I got over it and realized it wasn't that big of a deal," he added. "I just had to keep working and keep my head up."
LeBrun had great size -- he's now six-foot-one and 190 pounds -- and a heavy, accurate shot. But the part of his game that was holding him back was his skating. When he tried out for the Cariboo Cougars major midget team last fall, his skating still wasn't strong enough and he was released by Sprague and the Cariboo coaching staff.
LeBrun could have moped about this latest setback. But, in another show of character, he used it as motivation when he joined the midget Tier 1 Coast Inn of the North Cougars. That club was led by head coach Chris Bond. And, it didn't take long for Bond to start seeing major improvements in the tenacious teen.
"He's always been a real big, strong kid but his first few strides were pretty slow, and that came a long way," Bond said. "And I think his compete level also came up and he really started to use his strengths, which were his shot and his size. He used them to his advantage and really turned into one of our best players."
LeBrun's progress didn't go unnoticed by Sprague, who called him up to the Cariboo Cougars as an affiliated player a handful of times. LeBrun played five games at the major midget level and proved he could keep pace.
At the recent Under-17 camp, Sprague was so impressed by LeBrun's play that he contacted Portland assistant general manager Travis Green and recommended that the Hawks snap up LeBrun's rights before any other WHL club laid claim to him.
"He's a guy that potentially can play in the Western league and you want to make sure you tap into a kid like that and give him the opportunity to show what he can do," Sprague said.
"He's a big, strong kid that can play a pretty big role for us. We don't have a lot of big guys on our list right now. We've got a lot of guys that can move the puck and put the puck in the net but we need some guys that can put the puck in the net and crash and bang and be a power forward type of guy."
LeBrun, who shoots between 100 and 200 pucks every day, will attend a Winterhawks prospect camp in June in Calgary and will then be in Portland for main training camp in late August. Naturally, he'll do his best to grab a spot in the lineup but he said he's more focused on playing major midget hockey with the Cougars next season.
"It would just be a bonus to crack that [Portland] squad," he said.
If LeBrun does make it to the WHL, he'll follow in the path of his dad, Sean, who played four seasons with the Spokane Chiefs, New Westminster Bruins and Tri-City Americans. Sean LeBrun, a 1988 NHL draft pick of the New York Islanders, went on to play pro in the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League.
Jake LeBrun's grandpa, Al LeBrun, was also a pro hockey player, including stints with the New York Rangers in 1960-61 and 1965-66.
"He's got good bloodlines," Sprague said of Jake LeBrun. "With his dad and his grandpa he's got some good hockey guys there and he's got good guidance at home. At the end of the day it depends on what he wants to do. It's up to him to go out there and show his stuff."
