Howarth hoping for draft call in third year of eligibility

Kale Howarth hopes it’ll be “third time’s the charm”.

The Red Deer native is in his third and final year of eligibility for the NHL Draft, which takes places in Chicago starting with round one Friday night.

While he won’t be drafted that high, being ranked 128th among North American Skaters by NHL Central Scouting, Howarth is optimistic he will finally hear his name called sometime Saturday.

“I’m feeling pretty good about it,” Howarth said from Kelowna, B.C. on Thursday. “I’ve talked to a couple of teams, but you never know. It’s pretty unpredictable but I think this weekend should go pretty well.”

Howarth has been told by his hockey advisor, Penticton-based Michael Rafferty that he could be selected sometime in the fourth or fifth round of the draft. He’s also been told by Rafferty not to sit around all day watching the draft on TV.

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“He told me to get out and golf with my buddies, that it can be a long two or three hours of teams picking. He’s just telling me to stay calm and be myself,” Howarth shared.

Howarth, who just turned 20, says he’s interviewed with 20 NHL teams, including eight at last month’s NHL Combine in Buffalo. He says there were a couple of teams who showed particular interest, giving him more reason to be optimistic.

“I thought all my interviews went really well,” he said. “I was more nervous for the bikes than the interview process.”

The lone BCHL player ranked for this weekend’s draft, Howarth just wrapped up his second season with the Trail Smoke Eaters, and first under new head coach Cam Keith. The 6’5” centre racked up 58 points in 59 regular season games, and two points in nine playoff contests.

“He [Keith] met with me before the season and told me I have what it takes to be a professional hockey player. He gave me a lot of advice on what to do and how to play and score more goals. He’s been a really big part of my success,” Howarth noted. “A lot of it was just maturing and growing up, for me.”

After being passed over in the WHL Bantam Draft, Howarth says going the Jr. A route has turned out to be a good choice.

“I love it. As a late developer it’s the perfect route for me. School’s not really my strong suit, but it’s my only path to playing pro hockey.”

While he feels he may not be the strongest student, Howarth does have his sights set on playing NCAA hockey. Not with Northern Michigan, where he committed to last fall, but instead with the Connecticut Huskies.

“I found out the coach at Northern Michigan got fired, and he was a big reason why I was going there. So I decided to fly down to Connecticut. They’re in a better division that has more scoring, which is better for me, so I chose to go there instead.”

Howarth plans to play the entire 2017-18 season with Trail while he finishes some schooling, but could join the Huskies mid-season if things change.