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The Tri-City Americans did some one-stop shopping last week while touring Saskatchewan. They recruited a pair of midget AAA Prince Albert Mintos, linemates Brennen Bosovich and Tyson Dallman, two of the top scorers in the Saskatchewan Midget Hockey League.
The Americans listed the 17-year-old forwards after scouting them in Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
“I had noticed they were doing very well in the scoring, so I went to watch them play in Saskatoon,” said Tri-City general manager Bob Tory.
“We were quite excited that they were both available, and jumped at the opportunity. They’re very good players. They’re both very good skaters. They’re different players — Dallman is bigger and more physical. Bosovich is a real hard worker and a real good skater.
“Even though they’re 1993-born players, lots of players come into the (WHL) at 18 and are very successful.”
Tory said the Americans might call up Bosovich and Dallman this season, if there’s a break in their Mintos’ schedule.
“Oh, that would be awesome,” Bosovich said Thursday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
The five-foot-nine, 145-pound centre from Martensville collected 13 points in the Mintos’ first six games to put him atop the league scoring race, along with Cody Pettapiece of the Saskatoon Contacts.
The interest from the Americans, WHL finalists last season, caught Bosovich off guard in much the same fashion as he fools opposing goaltenders.
“I never saw it coming, especially this early in the season,” he said. “We were in English class (at Carlton) and Dallman said, ‘Yeah, I got listed to Tri-City.’ I said, ‘Oh, good job, man.’
“Then, I went to his house after practice that night and his mom told me I was listed, too. I was, like, ‘Whoa, that’s a big surprise.’ Obviously, we’re on a list. It must mean something.”
It means even more after players are rejected elsewhere. Last month, after returning from tryouts with the junior A Kindersley Klippers (SJHL) and major junior Chilliwack Bruins (WHL), Bosovich was beginning to wonder what it would take for a small player like him to advance to the next level.
“I heard pretty much the same thing,” he said of those camps. “Not big enough, not strong enough yet, but getting there.”
Bosovich might have found his match in the Americans.
“They called me and they said, ‘You’re a small player,’ but that’s what they’re known for, I guess. Small and speedy.”
Dallman, who just turned 17 this week, has 12 points after seven games this season. He’s part of the Mintos’ top line, with Bosovich and Tad Kozun.
Now in his third season with his hometown Mintos, Dallman was a bantam draft pick of the Calgary Hitmen, who dropped him from their protected list last spring.
“It was exciting to hear (from Tri-City),” said Dallman, six-foot-one and about 175 pounds. “After being dropped by Calgary, you’re kind of down in the dumps, but you get up and work hard. It just proves that just because one team doesn’t like what you’ve done, that another team doesn’t (like it).
“(This is) kind of a second chance to prove a couple of teams wrong, actually.”
One of those teams is the Prince Albert Raiders, who cut Dallman after an August audition at the WHL team’s training camp.
“It was just a tryout,” he said. “They gave me a chance to come play and they didn’t like how I played, obviously. That’s fine — they made their choice. Now, I just have to go prove that maybe they made the wrong one.”
Dallman was encouraged after chatting with Tory, a former Raider scout.
“They sound pretty pleased with how I’ve been playing and stuff, so it’s exciting,” Dallman said.
“I talked to their GM and he said he wanted to bring me up for a couple of practices and a game, or whatever, if we ever have time off, and if it’s OK with Tim.”
That would be Tim Leonard, the Mintos’ coach.
“It looks like the Mintos will go a long way this year, in the playoffs, so it’s just going to make those guys better players,” Tory said of his newest recruits. “We’re a very offensive-orientated team, so both of them kind of fit into our mold.
“We feel they both certainly have the potential to not only play (in the WHL), but to contribute at a good level. It would have been nice to list them a few days earlier and get them in our (Oct. 5) game in Prince Albert, but the timing just didn’t work out.”
Tory believes it’s advantageous for Bosovich and Dallman to continue to develop under Leonard and former NHL defenceman Dave Manson.
“They’re in an excellent program where they’re getting tons of ice time and doing very well in the Saskatchewan midget league, which is a great development league,” he said.
The Mintos tied the Blazers 3-3 in Saskatoon on Oct. 3, with the Tri-City hockey staff well-represented in the stands.
“I think the one that really did it for me and Brennen was the Blazers’ game in Saskatoon when (the Americans) were on their road trip up here,” Dallman said. “I guess the whole staff was there — coach, GM, everybody. I think that was the one that sealed the deal.”
They are very good players who are having good seasons so far with the Mintos.
