Watch above: Saskatoon Blades prospect Lukus MacKenzie wants to be a difference maker as the team rebuilds. Jack Haskins looks at what he brings to the team.
SASKATOON – Lukus MacKenzie wants to be a difference maker. This weekend the stocky right winger will likely get his second taste of Western Hockey League (WHL) game action.
The Saskatoon Blades third-round draft pick made his WHL debut on Feb. 14 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, and MacKenzie has been eager to receive a call up ever since.
“It’s been great,” said MacKenzie with an ear to ear grin. “It’s awesome getting out here with the guys, getting called up here this last week. Yeah, it’s special.”
Some top prospects will take their time weighing their options before committing to the WHL team that drafted them. MacKenzie didn’t hesitate. He put pen to paper three months after the Blades selected him 60th overall in the 2014 WHL bantam draft.
“I think it’s a good fit for me, I kind of wanted to be on a rebuilding type team.”
MacKenzie looks forward to the challenge of helping the Blades climb up the WHL ranks. He believes he’ll grow more as a player learning ways to grind out victories, compared to joining a stacked team where wins are easier to come by.
MacKenzie has practised with the Blades all week, and Blades head coach and general manager Bob Woods has monitored the 15-year-old closely. Woods is already impressed with the physicality the six-foot tall right winger brings to the table.
“We’re excited about him,” said Woods. “We’ve been a smaller team all year so any time you can add a big body and a guy that has some abilities, we’re excited about that and I think he looks good.”
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MacKenzie hopes to suit up for at least one of the Blades remaining two games this season. He is eligible to play full-time with the Blades for the 2015-16 campaign, but he knows that cracking the squad won’t be easy.
Saskatoon boasts a talented 1999 draft class, which means there will be several eager rookies fighting to earn a full time roster spot with Saskatoon. If MacKenzie does draw into the line-up this weekend, he wants to make a lasting impression.
“I’m taking it as a bit of a try-out, trying to show them what I can do.” said MacKenzie. “Trying to do what I do normally, and just play my type of hockey.”
The Blades take on the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday night, in what will be Saskatoon’s final home game of the season.
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