The first round of the Western Hockey League (WHL) playoffs will have a bit Cochrane flavour added to it when the Kelowna Rockets kick off their best-of-seven series against the Tri-City Americans on March 22.
Two Cochranites will be facing off against one another when 19-year-old Dillon Dube (Kelowna) and 16-year-old Connor Bouchard take to the ice for the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Dube, a Calgary Flames second round pick (56th overall), is likely in his final season of junior hockey and has had a stellar career at that. The Cochrane native, who was presented with the Rockets President’s Choice Award to recognize outstanding and significant accomplishments, has played in 203 WHL games, amassing 101 goals and 131 assists for 232 points. Those stats include the 38 goals and 84 points he posted in 38 games this year with the Rockets. He is also the only remaining member of the Rockets team that brought home the Ed Chynoweth Cup in 2015.
Dube also suited up as team captian for Team WHL during the CIBC Canada-Russia Series, where he tied a WHL record in points (two goals and three assists He is also the first Kelowna Rockets player ever to earn a spot on the Canadian World Junior team in back-to-back seasons.
A season after coming home with a silver medal and finishing the tournament with three assists in seven games in 2017, he became the first player from the Kelowna Rockets to Captain Team Canada at the World Juniors this time helping the team to a gold medal. He had three goals and two assists in seven games that year.
Bouchard is in his first season in the WHL having played in 60 games this season for the Americans, scoring two goals and adding six assists. Bouchard was also one of the 66 players selected to represent Canada at the 2017 World Under 17 Hockey Challenge Nov. 5 to 11 in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C. The Cochrane native suited up for Canada White, which finished fourth in the tournament after losing to the Czech Republic 2-1 in the bronze medal game. He played in six games, registering one assist and four penalty minutes in those contests.
Bouchard said he was happy with how his rookie season went and is excited to get the playoffs underway.
“This season has been so much fun. Just learning what it takes to play in this league and being around the guys all the time is a great experience,” Bouchard said.
“It’s been cool talking to some of the older guys with playoffs just around the corner. I think on every team the young guys look to the veteran players for advice and the big thing I get back is playoffs are a lot of fun. This is what you’ve played six months for and I’m looking forward to getting it started.”
Bouchard is also excited to square off against a fellow Cochranite.
“It’s pretty cool to get to play against Dillon. He’s a real good player in this league and he’s proved it over the past couple of seasons. He’s a guy who was drafted to the NHL and was just Team Canada’s captain at the World Juniors,” Bouchard said of his Kelowna counterpart.
“With him being a few years older, he’s someone that I’ve looked up to for a while now. You see his highlights and what he’s accomplished and it makes you want to do the same thing.”
The 16-year-old rookie forward also believes his team can give Kelowna a run for its money in the first round.
The Rockets finished tops in the B.C. Division and second in the Western Conference with 93 points, while Tri-City finished fourth in a very tough U.S. Division and seventh in the conference with 85 points.
“Kelowna has a very good team with a lot of talented players. But we have a good team too and when we’re playing our game, we can beat anyone in this league,” Bouchard said.
“We played them tough this year and we’ll be looking to continue that trend heading into the playoffs.”
The Americans won two of their three meetings with the Rockets in the regular season.
Those interested in watching the two Cochrane kids do battle, can live stream the games through WHL live TV. The site can be found at whl.neulion.com/whl.
