Admirals’ Bourque is finding his way
Hockey isn’t the only area in which Gabriel Bourque has gotten better this season.
The Milwaukee Admirals’ rookie from Rimouski, Quebec, has improved his English, too.
“I can communicate with the guys and it’s more fun,” Bourque said. “It was pretty tough for me because where I’m from, nobody speaks English. It was tough for me to communicate with the other guys.”
Or waitresses, for that matter. The French-speaking Bourque also struggled at restaurants when it was time to order, so he would get whatever his teammates were eating.
“He’d order a lot of ‘same thing,’ ” teammate Steve Begin said. “That was one of his main courses, ‘same thing.’ ”
Begin is also from Quebec and is in his first season with the Admirals as well. So he tried to help Bourque make the transition from French to English.
“As soon as the guys start to talk fast, sometimes you lose him and then he turns around and says, ‘What are they saying?’ or ‘What’s going on?’ ” Begin said. “Or you tell him something funny that he doesn’t quite understand, so he’ll make it seem like he didn’t hear you and he’ll start doing something else.
“But you’ve got to give credit to the guy. I remember when I was that age coming into the league. It was hard for me to understand.”
Texas has had a hard time understanding ways to stop the 20-year-old Bourque in its West Division best-of-seven semifinal series with Milwaukee.
The 5-foot-9, 192-pound left wing has five goals and four assists for the Admirals, who own a 3-2 series lead entering their Game 6 matchup with the Stars Monday night.
“It’s the best part of the year,” Bourque said. “I play the same game – harder. I don’t know what to say. I play my game and everything goes well. Every game could be the last one, so you’ve got to play the best you can.”
Game 6 could have been Milwaukee’s last one if it weren’t for Bourque’s unbelievable goal Friday at Texas. The Stars were ahead, 1-0, in Game 5 when Bourque scored with 4.4 seconds left in the third period.
Standing near the left crease, Bourque reached out with his right skate to keep Chris Mueller’s pass from the back wall from sliding through the slot. With his left knee almost on the ice, he quickly lined up for a shot and scored. Milwaukee won, 2-1, on a goal by Ryan Thang with 3:31 left in overtime.
“It was one of my best goals ever, for sure,” Bourque said.
Perhaps his best game was in a 5-2 Game 1 victory on April 14, as Bourque tied a team playoff record with five points, including two goals.
Not bad for a fifth-round draft pick by Nashville in 2009.
“The day we drafted him, we knew what we were getting,” said Martin Gelinas, the Predators’ director of player development.
Bourque, winner of the Guy Lafleur Award as the most valuable player in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs last season, managed six goals and eight assists in his first 46 games with Milwaukee.
In Bourque’s last 32 games of the regular season, he totaled 12 goals and 10 assists.
He finished third on the team with 18 goals and was second with five power-play goals.
“He keeps building and building on his skill, and keeps working on his game daily,” Gelinas said. “Then he gets in the playoffs and he takes it to the next level. He’s playing awesome right now. He’s getting a lot of points and is getting rewarded for his hard work. He’s what a pro is all about: a hard worker dedicated to the game.”
Does that mean Bourque could get a shot with the Nashville Predators next season?
“He’s getting closer and closer,” Gelinas said. “Is he ready? I’ll guess we’ll find out sooner or later. I think his time is probably sooner than later. Everything that he does, he does it well. When you can elevate your game in the playoffs, that means you’re that type of player that an NHL team would want.”