A trio of players who played for the Prince George Cougars or Spruce Kings last season will have their minds, if not their bodies, in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Cougars forward Troy Bourke and Kings forwards Jujhar Khaira and Paul De Jersey have all caught the eye of NHL scouts with their play this season and could find themselves with NHL addresses after the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, June 22-23.
Kings general manager Mike Hawes said it's a feather in the cap of the British Columbia Hockey League club to have two players ranked.
"Definitely from a selfish standpoint, if you will, for the organization it would be a nice shot in the arm for us," said Hawes. "It would be something we could hang our hats on and be very proud of."
The last Kings player drafted into the NHL was defenceman Brad Fast, who went 84th overall in 1999 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Khaira is the highest ranked BCHL player at 74th for North American skates, while Bourke was ranked 123rd and De Jersey 98th. At the midpoint, Bourke was listed at 107th and De Jersey at 203rd.
"We've put in a lot of hard work as an organization and had a good season last year,'said Hawes. "The season's not over yet, hopefully it cumulates with a couple kids getting drafted this weekend."
Troy Bourke
After a stellar rookie campaign as a 16 year old, Troy Bourke, a product of Onoway, Alta., had some trouble finding his groove as a sophomore but turned heads with a strong finish.
Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson said he believes a team will grab the five-foot-10, 180 pound left winger sooner than the fifth round he was predicted to go in last April.
"We think he's going to go way earlier," said Thompson. "He's going to go a lot earlier than the rankings say."
In 144 games with the Cats, Bourke has 40 goals and 101 points. After notching 42 points as a rookie, including 19 goals, the 18 year old added 15 points to his total in 2011-12.
His slow start to the WHL season can be attributed to the fact Brett Connolly cracked the Tampa Bay Lightnings' roster out of training camp along with suspensions and injures to other older forwards.
"He came in kind of thinking he was going to play with Brett Connolly all year and then in the end he was the old guy on the line," said Thompson.
In the latter half of the season Bourke was paired with rookie centre Alex Forsberg and Daulton Siwak, both of whom spent a lot of time on the injury list.
Thompson said Bourke's abilities as a playmaker should attract some teams.
"He's a skilled guy who makes some very good plays," said Thompson. "He kind of got off to a slow start but when we had a good push there after Christmas he was dynamite."
Siwak and backup goaltender Devon Fordyce are also eligible for the 2012 NHL draft.
Jujhar Khaira
One thing is certain Jujhar Khaira no longer flies under anyone's radar.
After two seasons with the Spruce Kings, the 17 year old secured a NCAA Division 1 scholarship with the Michigan Tech. Wolverines for the 2012-13 campaign and was one of 100 draft eligible player invited to the NHL Combine in Toronto in May.
Not bad for a player who was ignored by the WHL bantam draft - the Cougars eventually listed Khaira before trading his rights to the Everett Silvertips during the 2012 bantam draft - and was was a late addition to the Kings training camp.
"A couple of days prior to the start of our main training camp in Aug., two years ago, our Lower Mainland scout at the time called and said he had a late addition, a kid he wanted to bring to the camp," said Hawes. "He thought he was a bit of a dark horse.
"Within a couple of days of training camp we recognized he was something special and we couldn't let him leave town without signing a card and agree to play for the Spruce Kings."
In his two seasons in Prince George the product of the Cloverdale Minor Hockey system played in 112 games, collecting 39 goals and 121 points. Last season, Khaira led all Kings with 10 power-play goals.
Hawes said the six-foot-three, 195 pound forward has worked hard in the last three years to go from unknown to sought-after.
"You can't get a better individual or a harder working kid," he said. "He deserves everything that's coming his way."
Paul De Jersey
The Kings could have a knack for finding underrated players. When Paul De Jersey arrived at the team's training camp last August it was his third BCHL team in three years.
"When I targeted Paul last summer as a player that I wanted to acquire in a trade, I knew that he was a player that had kind of underachieved in his BCHL career," said Hawes. "I saw him as a player who had great potential and great offensive skills but hadn't really been given an opportunity to show it."
In three seasons with the Burnaby/Coquitlam Express and the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, the forward had 11 goals and 23 points. Last year, with the Kings, playing with Khaira and Michael Colantone on one of the most lethal lines in the BCHL, De Jersey led the league in scoring, securing the Brett Hull trophy with 41 goals and 98 points.
"I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little surprised how his year went," said Hawes. "My expectation was maybe a point a game while playing on the power play for us.
"Right from the word go at the start of training camp I knew we had something more special than I even realized," he continued.
