By Adrian Nieoczym /
Mitchell Callahan has come a long way in two seasons with the Kelowna Rockets.
Undrafted as a Bantam player in Los Angeles, Callahan made the Rockets at the beginning of the 2008/09 season as a walk-on. Then, despite not being ranked at all by Central Scouting, he was picked by the Detroit Red Wings in the sixth round of last June’s NHL Draft (180th overall.)
This season, the gritty but diminutive forward scored 20 goals to go with 27 assists and 168 penalty minutes, earning him his team’s Unsung Hero award in the process.
“It’s the hardest worker award. [It’s for someone] who doesn’t really get the praise and glory with the goal scoring,” said Callahan when asked what the award means to him. “So that’s sort of what I’ve been through since I’ve been here and it’s a great honour to win that.”
Callahan has succeeded by adapting. In Bantam and Midget, Callahan was a skilled player whose job was to score. In 2007/08, he potted 38 goals and 71 points in 51 games for the Midget AAA Los Angeles Junior Kings. But his size as a youngster meant he didn’t even register on WHL radar screens.
“I’m a late bloomer, there’s no question about that,” said Callahan. “I was 5-1, I was 110 pounds as a 14-year-old going to the Bantam Draft.”
Now 18, Callahan has filled out a little and is currently listed at 5-11 and 175 pounds. He got his shot with Kelowna after his Midget coach gave the Rockets a call and snagged him a training camp tryout.
At his first WHL camp, Callahan played bigger than his size, showed off his skills and demonstrated an eagerness to do whatever it takes to help his team.
“We heard he was gritty but he showed a lot more than we thought he was,” said Lorne Frey, the Rockets director of player personnel. “He sticks up for his teammates.”
Does he ever. In two seasons with the Rockets, Callahan was among the league leaders in fighting majors both times, with 20 in 2008/09 and another 19 this season.
“I’m an in your face kind of player, who’s not afraid to hit anybody, not afraid to get hit and occasionally drop the gloves,” said Callahan.
But he’s also able to provide a little offence, something that Frey thinks will help him make it to the NHL, where the era of the one-dimensional enforcer is slowly coming to an end.
“We think his skating has to get better but the rest of his game is developing nicely. We think certainly down the road that he’s own of those guys that maybe when he’s 22 or 23, has a possibility of playing in the National Hockey League,” he said, adding that in today’s NHL, it’s possible for smaller guys to make it as third or fourth line players. “His skill I think continues to develop and certainly we have no complaints about his work ethic and his desire to play the game.” |