Milestone Moment – Kevin He 30 Goals
Written by Elijah DiDomenico
As the calendar flips to June, and with the NHL Draft right around the corner, our Milestone Moment this week focuses on the IceDogs draft hopeful star, Kevin He. This season was a big year for Kevin, and with the pressure and eyes on him, he rose to the occasion and delivered. No IceDogs player scored more goals than his 31, and his 53 points trailed only Gavin Bryant for the team lead in that category. Scoring 30 goals in the OHL is no small feat, and Kevin certainly did well to boost his draft stock and show why he deserves to have his named called by an NHL squad in Vegas this month.
Kevin got off to a bit of a slow start, by his lofty standards anyways, going scoreless in his first three games of the year. But players as skilled and dominant as him don’t go through droughts for that long; with three goals and four points in his following three games, Kevin was off to the races. With 19 goals before the calendar flipped to 2024, the race to 30 was well within reach. By hitting 30, Kevin would join the likes of Daniil Gushchin (San Jose Sharks), Jason Robertson (Dallas Stars), Akil Thomas (Los Angeles Kings), Jack Studnicka (Vancouver Canucks), and Philip Tomasino (Nashville Predators) as IceDogs to hit the mark within the last 5 years.
Kevin scored number 29 at home against the Ottawa 67s on February 29th but was held scoreless the next two games. On March 9th, the IceDogs were in Peterborough to play the Petes, and He was not going to be denied for another game. 16:08 into the first period, with the IceDogs trailing 1-0, He made a great play in the defensive zone to strip a Petes player of the puck and clear the zone. The puck was started up ice, and Ryan Vannetten carried it across the blueline and fired a shot on net. He, showing great offensive awareness, drove the far side of the net and the rebound came right to him. Making no mistake, Kevin collected the rebound and shot it into the open cage in one sweeping motion, burying his 30th goal on the year and cementing his name amongst some IceDogs greats.
He would tuck one more before the year was done, capping off a brilliant season in which Kevin showed the speed, skill, strength, and determination that make him such a fascinating prospect in this year’s NHL draft. It shouldn’t be a matter of if, but rather a matter of when he hears his name called this summer!
