Jackson DeSouza- Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Keeping the puck out is priority #1

Little fanfare for solid defenders

Oct 31, 2022 | 6:00 AM

It is the hard part of the game.

Your name doesn’t appear on the scoresheet, and the fans nor the media give you any attention for the contribution you’ve made to help your team win.

Kelowna Rockets defenceman Jackson DeSouza is used to it. He is rarely mentioned in pre or post game interviews, with just one goal in 80 career WHL games.

But when you are 6’4 and appear much larger than the weight scale shows at 185 pounds, you can intimate opposition forwards by playing a physical game and getting in their way.

“He takes away so much time and space”, Rockets head coach Kris Mallette said when speaking glowingly about the 19-year-old’s value to the team.

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DeSouza logged huge minutes on the weekend against the Portland Winterhawks, with a suspension to fellow rear-guard Noah Dorey and an injury to 19-year-old d-man Elias Carmichael.

“When our defense is on our game, our gap is good”, Mallette added.

DeSouza was a bull in a china shop Friday night, initiating a massive hit in front of the timekeepers bench when he took full advantage of an unsuspecting Winterhawks puck carrier with his head down. The body contact was so good, it equaled a thunderous hit teammate John Babcock applied in a game in Prince George two weeks into the season, it too catching the eye of everyone in the building with the massive thud it made across the entire arena.

“They (defensemen) have to play mean”, Mallette told RocketFan. “They have been in this league long enough that they know when to let loose and when it is time to contain.”

DeSouza, a fourth round WHL bantam pick from 2018 will never be a point producer. The Erie, Colorado resident’s lone career goal came just before the Christmas break last season when he scored against the Kamloops Blazers.

A stay-at-home defenseman, DeSouza doesn’t play outside of his comfort zone, and like Babcock, less means more when the puck is on their stick. Make the quick outlet pass and prepare to win one-on-one battles in your own zone when the puck is in the corner.

“We have to make it difficult to be around our zone and entering our zone, and they’ve been blocking a lot of shots too”, Mallette added with pride.

DeSouza has added another dimension to his game this season. An extrovert, his talkative and outgoing personality has enabled him to be included in the team’s leadership group, wearing an ‘A’ on his jersey during away games.

Mallette may appreciate DeSouza and Babcock more than others because he is looking into the mirror at the type of player he used to be while suiting up for the Kelowna Rockets from 1996 to 1998 before being traded to the Moose Jaw Warriors in his 20-year-old season.

Mallette had just eight career goals as a defenseman in 249 WHL games, where pride and ownership of the front of his own net was priority number one and keeping the other team’s best players off the score-board was better than scoring a goal to the ovation of onlookers.

With the graduation of Jake Lee and Tyson Feist, both DeSouza and Babcock have been asked to step it up.

While you won’t see either of their names in bright lights with fans oohing and aahing at a stellar defensive play, the one person they really need to get ultimate approval from is the one standing behind the Rockets bench.

Kris Mallette has indeed taken notice.