March 9, 2010
McKellar's success continues in Wenatchee
Another strong season in the NAHL has Duncan McKellar closing in on a Division I commitment. (Courtesy NAHL)
As Duncan McKellar finishes up his second season with the Wenatchee (Wash.) Wild of the North American Hockey League (NAHL), he's counting on this year to also be his last.
For McKellar, a 19-year-old from Phoenix, playing on a winning team in front of the largest crowds in the NAHL has meant an enhanced scouting presence at games. He's hoping that translates into a college opportunity, even though he had an offer in place last summer with Bemidji State (Minn.) University.
"(Bemidji's) assistant coach was the one who saw me play and scouted me and then, at a couple of camps last summer where I didn't think I played that well, their head coach (Tom Serratore) saw me play and said they wanted to push my scholarship back to 2011," explained McKellar.
"I think I'm ready for college hockey this coming fall, not next fall, so I told them that it was a great offer for me to go play there, but that I wanted to see what a few other schools could offer."
McKellar, who played in January's Sherwood/NAHL Top Prospects Tournament, says he's had conversations with several other programs, but that "nothing too serious" had come from the talks.
For the time being, though, McKellar wants to focus on one thing: bringing some hardware to the Pacific Northwest. The Wild is hosting the Robertson Cup Championship Tournament, which represents the NAHL's playoff champion and USA Hockey's Tier II Junior A national champion, in May.
"That's obviously a goal of ours, to win it on home ice," said McKellar, whose Wild fell an overtime goal short of winning the Robertson Cup last year. "This town really gets behind our team, even more than last year and last year was an incredible first season here. Wenatchee is really turning into a hockey town."
And with one of the best records in the league, Wenatchee is turning into a perennial contender.
"We have a lot of veteran leadership and great coaches and I think that, more than anything, has prepared us more this season," explained McKellar. "That helps the younger guys know what to expect when we go into certain buildings around the league and that also helps the whole team realize that we all expect 100 percent."
In Arizona, McKellar grew up playing for VOSHA - he was a member of the Mustangs' Bantam AA national championship team in 2005 - and the Jr. Coyotes before moving to Colorado to skate for the Colorado Thunderbirds. Two years ago, he came back to Phoenix for his senior year of high school to play for the P.F. Chang's U18 team.
"I think my age group (1990) and the kids one and two years younger than me really got hockey going at a high level in Arizona," said McKellar. "It gives me a sense of pride seeing where hockey is going there and how far it's come in just a short little while.
"I like to keep track of where guys I played with are playing now and there's so many that it's really cool to see where we've all gone since our younger days."
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