Fredericton puckster shooting for the big leagues
News, This Week's Edition Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
Justin Bowers-Photo by Jim Muise
At every turn in his hockey career, Justin Bowers has been overlooked.
First, at 16, Bowers, a Frederictonian, was left off the provincial under-17 team roster.
That same year he was passed over in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft–a crucial stepping stone for any youngster looking to play in the NHL.
After two seasons with the Fredericton Midget AAA Canadiens, he was offered a five-game free agent tryout with the Halifax Mooseheads at age 18.
The offensive centerman was let go shortly after and sent down to the Maritime Junior A Hockey League’s Woodstock Slammers.
Bowers scored more than 100 goals over the next three seasons with Woodstock, led the MJAHL in scoring with 128 points in his final year, and was named league MVP in the same season.
But throughout his three years in Woodstock, Bowers didn’t get a single call from any team in the QMJHL.
With his junior career finished, in 2007 Bowers enrolled at St. Thomas University to play for the Tommies.
After two-year stint at STU, where he emerged as the team’s top offensive producer Bowers left in 2008 for the East Coast Hockey League to pursue his dream of playing professionally.
Last season, his first as a pro, he amassed 54 points in 44 games with the Dayton Bombers, earning him a league all-star selection.
Bowers’ play also earned him two call-ups to the American Hockey League (AHL), which is one league below the NHL.
He suited up for 18 games with the Quad City Flames, the Calgary Flames affiliate, and registered seven points, and even scored a hat trick (an epic feat for a call-up)in one contest.
His successes did earn him a tryout last summer with the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL, as well as an AHL tryout, but he didn’t get the contract offer he had been searching for.
Bowers is an assistant captain with the Allen Americans of the CHL
“I think everything happens for a reason,” Bowers said in a phone interview from Allen, Texas, where he plays with the Allen Americans of the Central Hockey League (CHL).
“‘I’ve put up good numbers, and I’m leading the playoffs in scoring right now. I keep putting up points, and that’s my job, so I’m pleased with myself, I just wish someone would figure it out and give me more of a chance at the next level. I’m not satisfied (in the CHL), but I’m happy with what I’ve done over the past two years.”
Bowers and the Americans are in the middle of a tight series with the Odessa Jackopoles and are one win away from the CHL final.
He currently leads all playoff scorers with 21 points in 13 games.
He landed in the CHL, a league below the ECHL, this season on the advise of his coach last year in Dayton, who took the head coaching job in Allen.
He admits the league isn’t what he thought it’d be, and doesn’t expect to sign another contract in the CHL, which are typically awarded on a year-by-year basis.
“I’ll probably give the minor leagues another try next year,” said Bowers, who was called up to the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat once this season. ”If I don’t get into the American league after next year, I’ll probably go to Europe. I might end up back in the ECHL next year because there is more scouting.”
Despite taking an unlikely road to pro hockey, and regardless of where he ends up next season, Bowers remains determined to improve.
He says he has always managed to prevail in the face of adversity, so he’s not giving up on his dream of one day playing in the NHL.
“The fact that I’ve been overlooked my whole career (drives me),” he says. “I want to prove everyone wrong about me. I want to make them realise that I’m a good hockey player with some natural ability that some guys don’t have.
That, and I’m from Fredericton, and there haven’t been many hockey players who’ve made it out of there, so it would be special to be from Fredericton and make it to the NHL or the AHL.”
No one would doubt Bowers’ ability.
Not just anyone can play minor-pro hockey, let alone be named an all-star in their first two seasons.
He doesn’t believe his ability is holding him back, rather it’s the grooming he missed out on as a younger player that has him playing catch up now.
“My conditioning has always been an issue,” he says. “I never played major junior. I went to university hockey after junior A, and my body never really developed into that pro-calibre physique, and I’m a step behind in that aspect. I haven’t got the training that these guys get from college or major junior.”
Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=6141
Posted by Jamie Ross
on Apr 21, 2010. Filed under News, This Week's Edition.
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