Altona's Cole Kehler has already got a head start on the 2017-2018 hockey season.

The 19-year-old Portland Winterhawks goaltender lived the NHL experience when he attended the Winnipeg Jets Development Camp at BELL MTS Iceplex during the last five days of June.

“I think I've watched them since I was maybe 14-years-old or something like that so to be able to wear that logo – it's like the hometown team logo,” said Kehler. “It's very, very special.”

Kehler, who sported a 32-17-3 record with a 3.10 goals against average and a 0.910 save percentage this past season with the Winterhawks, was thrilled to get the invite from the Jets.

“I put my head down last season and tried to take it one shot at a time and it ended up being a pretty good year for me,” said Kehler. “I got to play a lot of games and see a lot of shots. We had a great playoff run as a young team. Obviously I don't think that hurt too much. They saw me a few times throughout the season and kind of liked my game a little bit and here I am.”

18 forwards, 12 defensemen and four goaltenders attended the Development Camp which began at the beginning of the week.

“Monday was a long day,” said Kehler. “We got here and did a lot of medical tests, fitness testing, it was definitely a grind. After Monday we got to get on the ice with goalie coaches Rick St. Croix and Wade Flaherty and we could really learn a lot from them this week. It was a ton of fun. They're two very knowledgeable guys so I just tried to soak up as much as I could. It was a great week of learning and pushing my limits as well and learning how to be a bit more of a pro every day.”

“Wade really studies head trajectory and that's very new in the goaltending world,” added Kehler. “There's a few little details in my game that we definitely tried to work on a little bit. At the end of the day I think it just comes down to creating solid habits and I'm just going to try to continue those throughout the season.”

Kehler got a close in look at all eight of Winnipeg's 2017 draft choices who attended the camp including number one pick Kristian Vesalainen.

“I didn't want to let myself get too intimidated because obviously I'm here for reason. They wouldn't have invited me - just because - so I just reminded myself...I practice against a guy like Cody Glass everyday. He just went sixth overall and (Seattle Thunderbirds forward) Mathew Barzal right down the road and our biggest rivals. Obviously there was some very high skill level here. Just had to remind myself that I've been there before and just play my game.”

Kamloops selected Kehler in the sixth round of the 2012 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.

He played 21 games with the Blazers in 2014-2015 and was assigned to the Merritt Centennials of the British Columbia Hockey League the following season.

Portland acquired Kehler's rights from the Blazers for a conditional seventh round pick in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft on July 21st, 2016 and the former Miller Aces netminder had a breakout season in 2016-2017 with the Winterhawks.

“It was awesome. Obviously I'm pretty happy with the season went. Coming our of Junior A, maybe some people didn't expect too much. I personally probably didn't expect as much as I got out of myself. I'm a happy with it but now that it's over I obviously want to improve next season. We're going to have a good team coming back to Portland. We've got Kieffer Bellows now that will add some goals to our first line. Definitely want to improve on it and make a run for the Ed Chynoweth Cup first and then obviously the Memorial Cup.”

The Winterhawks finished in fourth place in the Western Hockey League's U.S. Division this past season.

Portland eliminated the Prince George Cougars four games to two in round one of the playoffs and then lost out to the Kelowna Rockets in five games in round two.

The calendar has just flipped to July but Cole Kehler is already looking forward to the Winterhawks main camp in late August.

“My last year of junior eligibility so I want to make the most out of it,” said Kehler. “Last year we were a young team. I think half the guys were 17 or younger so coming back we're going to have a lot more experience, a lot maturity within the room and I think that's only going to help us. We've got Mike Johnson behind the bench, a very knowledgeable coach and he's shown that he can turn a team around as he did last year leading us to 40 wins. I think it's going to be a really exciting year with a mature group.”


photos courtesy Jon Kozub/Winnipeg Jets