By Regan Bartel

Rookies not going quietly at main camp

Jace Rask with a ridiculous goal and Landon Cowper puts peddle to the metal

Sep 4, 2023 | 5:33 PM

Youthful enthusiasm.

Is there anything better?

You see lots of it at Kelowna Rockets’ main camp, specifically with the 16 and 17-year rookies who are legitimately excited to be competing against the seasoned veterans.

The energy and wide-eyed looks on their faces are nothing short of refreshing. Face it, even the older players like twenty-year-old Dylan Wightman, Jackson DeSouza, and Turner McMillen had that same look years ago, they just don’t remember.

One of those wet behind-the-ears players is 16-year-old Saskatchewan-born Jace Rask, who scored main camp’s most spectacular goal (Photographer Steve Dunsmor caught it on camera) with a tremendous effort in the mid-morning scrimmage. Turning a d-man inside out at the blue line, Rask followed that up with a spectacular finish, which saw the likable personality roof the puck, knocking the goalies’ water bottle, perched on top of the net, flying into the air.

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For those who witnessed it, in a sparse crowd of parents, scouts, and coaching staff, it created a certain buzz in the building. RocketFAN quickly looked at the lineup sheet of those players participating at camp wondering who in a red jersey scored the goal while wearing number 11. It was indeed Rask, who was the first player chosen in the SJHL U-15 draft among 2007-born players by the Battleford North Stars in 2022.

A prolific scorer two seasons ago playing bantam hockey with the Saskatoon Stallions with 27 goals including 59 points in just 31 games, the Rockets listed the Corman Saskatchewan product after a solid rookie camp last fall.

When RocketFAN spoke to Rask after his eye-popping goal, we asked him why so many good players come out of the Saskatoon area.

“It must be the coaching,” Rask grinning from ear-to-ear.

The Rockets organization has had success plucking players from that area of the province. Luke Schenn, Rourke Chartier and most recently Caden Price come to mind as elite players from the prairies to wear Kelowna Rockets colours.

While Rask was drawing oohs and aahs from the crowd, second year d-man Landon Cowper was gliding around the ice with relative ease.

Just turning 17 years-old in July, the Whitehorse Yukon product looks like a veteran at training camp, but despite playing in only seven games with the Rockets a season ago, the talkative defender is still considered a WHL rookie.

“With the boys on our team, we already have a lot of chemistry”, Cowper told RocketFAN. “I am trying to skate a lot more than I did last season. I am trying to get more comfortable, moving pucks quicker and just trying to do things a lot better than last year.”

Acquired in a trade with the Prince Albert Raiders at the WHL trade deadline for a conditional fifth round bantam pick, if Cowper’s skating isn’t elite, its darn close.

“It has been the most talked about”, Cowper saying with confidence, which isn’t typical of a player his age, yet clearly comfortable in his own skin. “The things like passing and shooting are things I work on, but skating has always been my strong suit.

If given the green light this season, Cowper and Caden Price could be two defenders that create confusion and frustration for the opposition in the offensive zone.

A bit naïve, a certain influx of youth on a junior team is indeed a beautiful thing.

It will be up to coaches Kris Mallette and Josh MacNevin to mold, lead and direct this raw talent into cagey veterans.