When the Vancouver Canucks selected forward Brock Boeser of the USHL Waterloo Black Hawks in the first round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, fans were unsure what to expect. After all, the American high school leagues do not get as much attention as Canadian junior leagues, especially in Vancouver and the rest of Canada.
Boeser committed to the University of North Dakota for the 2015-16 campaign and as Canucks general manager Jim Benning told Sportsnet, he did not know what to expect either.
“(Boeser) went in there as a freshman and you don’t know how these guys are going to adapt to the college game and the speed and the strength of the players, but the coaching staff did an excellent job with him this year,” Benning said.