The U-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament is an event every young hockey player has circled. Not only is it a great chance to represent your country at a premier event, it’s an opportunity to get every NHL scout watching you in action against some of the top talent in your age group from around the world. Kamloops Blazers left wing Jackson Shepard won a spot on Hockey Canada’s U-18 roster this summer and ended up taking home a shiny medal. He is able to look back on that experience now and know how special that was.
“It was an incredible experience, for sure. I was super honored to just make the team and to win gold was just something that was special and will cherish for the rest of my life. It was a heck of a summer but I’m super excited in Kamloops to get the season going,” Shepard said.
Shepard earned his spot on Canada’s roster by staying true to what he does best, kill penalties. “I take a lot of pride in my whole penalty kill. I like blocking shots and doing whatever I can to help the team win. That was my role on Team Canada and I was for sure going to accept it and wore that Canadian jersey no matter what.”
A major reason, Shepard is so effective on the PK, is his blazing speed, that can be lethal if a team is careless with a pass across the blue line. This speed was hard earned by Shepard. The five-foot-eight, 172 pound winger knew he’d have to focus on that to keep climbing levels in hockey.
“My parents put me power skating from a young age so I just stuck with it. Every summer that is one of the things I continue to work on. Being a smaller guy, being able to maneuver in and out of checks is big. I work on it lots.”
The Canadian U-18 team was not the only one that Shepard was able to help guide to a gold medal. He was on the North Shore Winter Club’s Bantam team in 2014 that won the Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championship.
“I learned lots that season, playing with guys like Nolan Kneen, who is a teammate right now, Conner McDonald-who was on Kamloops but got traded to Edmonton and a guy like Jordy Bellerive and Justin Almeida in Moose Jaw. That was a pretty stacked team and being a younger guy on that team, I tried to soak everything in from those guys I looked up to. I learned lots on that team, on that playoff run.”
His connection to Bellerive has helped him not put so much pressure on himself to be drafted during his daft year this coming June. Bellerive can speak from experience, as he was passed over in 2017, but was still signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins after a strong training camp this September.
“Me and Jordy are great buds. We talk almost every day. I asked him about his draft day and how he coped with it. He just said that it was tough day, but he got back in the gym the next day and started working. I really look up to him a lot. If that happens to me, I’ll just do what he did. Get back in the gym and get back on the ice and keep things going. At the end of the day, the draft is a number, but a lot of the guys in the NHL weren’t drafted.”
Shepard was drafted in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft by Kamloops, second round, 23rd overall. He got to play in two games later that year as a 15-year-old.
“It was a big adjustment for sure. Guys are a lot bigger, a lot faster, a lot more physical than Midget for sure. The main thing I took away was the pace. You don’t have time to think with the puck. It’s on your stick and you have to get it off your stick fast. That was my biggest takeaway from playing games at 15.”
He built off of his experience in 2015-16, to set himself up for his 16-year-old season. He ended up scoring three times and adding nine assists, for 12 points in 41 games.
“I think that really helped me a lot-knowing the ins and outs of the league a little after those two games. As a 16-year-old, I just tried to give it my all and do whatever I could to help the team win. We had a good year. Unfortunately, we lost in the payoffs, but I thought I grew and developed as a player a lot.”
Shepard has scored three goals already this year and has six assists for nine points in 28 games. His team got off to a poor start, as they dropped their first nine games. Since then, they have rebounded to the tune of winning 13 of their last 18 contests. Shepard credits the older players on the team, with pulling them out of their season-beginning tailspin.
“It shows great character as a team. We have unbelievable leaders and a great leadership group. They help us a lot. I think it shows a lot of will and desire to get back. It makes it a lot easier coming to the rink, when you are winning.”
Shepard has embraced his role on this team as well and is trying to play like another small and speedy Canadian winger.
“I’m just trying to work on getting to the net and making plays. Getting to the blue paint a lot every night. I model my game after Brendan Gallagher so I’m trying to play a lot like him and get to the net and be that pest. That is what I’m trying to do.”
While the points are not there yet in the WHL, by winning a spot on the U-18 team for Canada, Shepard has proven that he brings a unique skill set to any team.
