Austin Bourhis has played in 113 Western Hockey League games without scoring a goal. He has added nine assists and 276 penalty minutes in those two and half years in the league.
He may not have soft hands, but he believes this will be the year he scores his first official WHL goal, as a member of the Moose Jaw Warriors.
“Yep,” he said confidently. “I had a few last year, but they were all disallowed. It is bound to happen.”
The 20-year-old was a camp invite after spending two seasons with the Prince Albert Raiders. Head coach Mike Stothers called him prior to the summer months with an invite to camp.
“Stutts called me and asked if I would like to come to camp and that it wouldn’t be a waste of my time,” he said. “He didn’t give me a whole lot, but I worked towards it.”
It was an easy choice for Bourhis to make, as he wants to be part of a winning organization. He played one game with the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2009-10 season, he then moved onto Prince Albert for the past two seasons, playing in 49 games with 2010-11 season and 63 this past season. He is looking for a fresh start in the Friendly City.
“I just knew that they knew how to win and are always a winning organization,” he stated. “That was really important to me because being on a losing team is never fun.”
As one of three 20-year-olds in camp, Kendall McFaull and Justin Kirsch the others, Bourhis hopes to make his presence felt on and off the ice and in the locker room.
“I want to be a leader on the ice and in the dressing room,” he said. “I want to be a leader, but it is hard as a 20-year-old coming to a new team. I want to try and be a good leader, but you have to learn new things.”
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
