Schenn brothers enjoy Top Prospects experience
It didn’t take long for Luke Schenn to take a shot at his little brother.
r
Shortly after Brayden Schenn of the Brandon Wheat Kings stepped off the ice from practice for the Home Hardware Top Prospects Game last Monday in Oshawa, his big brother was already ribbing him about not winning the shootout in practice.
r
Brayden, a centre, took the jab in stride and went out on Wednesday to help Team Orr to a 6-1 win over Team Cherry in the main event. One year earlier, Luke, a defenceman, was playing for the Kelowna Rockets and was the captain for the winning team at the Top Prospects Game in Edmonton. Luke was the fifth overall pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in June and is enjoying a solid rookie campaign in the NHL.
r
“I was watching practice and I leaned over and said to my dad that ‘I can’t believe it was just a year ago that I was in this game’,” the older Schenn said. “What a difference year makes.”
r
Luke played for team Grant Fuhr/Glenn Anderson in the event at Rexall Place last year. He opened the scoring in the game and said that it was an important part of his draft year.
r
“It was definitely a great experience,” Luke said. “It’s like the first time you get to play with the other top prospects from across Canada so it’s pretty cool.”
r
Luke told Brayden to relax while he was in Oshawa and enjoy the experience of playing in the national showcase event.
r
“You definitely want to bring your A-game here,” Luke said. “There are lots of scouts here and GMs so you definitely want to play well while you are here. I don’t know how much it matters overall but I know it definitely helps.”
r
Brayden picked up an assist in the win and is looking forward to continuing to have a strong draft year. He hasn’t asked for much advice from Luke lately but said that it helps having an older brother that just went through the same experiences.
r
“I think towards the draft I’ll ask him more but it’s definitely a big advantage with him going through it the year before,” said Brayden, who was rated fourth among North American prospects in the NHL Central Scouting mid-term rankings that were released just before the game. “I think it will help me leading up to June.”
r
Luke admitted that he didn’t pay a lot of attention to the draft rankings throughout the year last year and was more focused on putting out a consistent effort every game. He obviously wants his brother to do the same.
r
“As far as the year goes the big thing I tell him is not to worry about the rankings,” Luke said. “They change a lot and there are tons of different opinions out there. You just need one team to like you and the big thing is if you let the rankings get to you it can affect your play.”