Here's a bit about Boris Katchouk
Ok… so here is the story of BK…
So I’ve known Boris since him, his brothers and I were playing 2v2 mini-sticks in their concrete basement back in St. Catharines, Ontario. I’m 28 years old so you can imagine what playing with 3 drastically older kids (him being 3-5 years old and his brothers 2 and 4 years older), could do to your stick game and especially toughness. And to say the least, the kids hard-nosed fearless style of play started down there, he was always fearless!
From the dungeon rumbles, you could see this kid had a high level of natural athleticism (makes sense having a mom who was a speed skating Olympian in the Calgary games and his dad as her coach). His knack for holding a twig reaaal early, whether it be a hockey or lacrosse stick, was purely natural.
I’ve always seen his skill-set and true potential, but always wondered whether he would have the internal drive to push himself to become an elite athlete. The one thing about Boris if you know him well, is his calmness, poise and ability to brush away nonsense all while smiling from ear to ear… the kid LOVES to play. This calmness stemmed from his complacency with his skill set growing up, in other words, he knew he was much better than any kids he played with in all sports growing up so he sometimes would not try as hard. Let’s just say, he found his drive and determination…
When he was real young growing up, he played soccer for a couple of seasons, and he would score 5-10 goals every game. He then fell in love with lacrosse, and boy, if hockey didn’t snatch him up, he would be one of, if not the top prospect for lacrosse right now. The one thing that most fans or scouts don’t truly realize is the potential this kid has with his hands, and this was groomed through lacrosse. The ironic part about the kid (for how much he loved to play mini-sticks, soccer, lacrosse), the first time he slapped on the blades and we went skating in Merriton Arena (in St. Catharines), he cried and cried and cried and CRIED! And didn’t want anything to do with skating for the first 45 minutes. But once he started to lose the fear (which was rare in this child) and started to have a couple of glides, the tears turned into a chuckle and a grin. The GRIN you see ever so often when you watch him compete.
A really good summary of Boris and his style of play was written by The Hockey Writers:
http://thehockeywriters.com/boris-katchouk-the-next-ones-nhl-2016-draft-prospect-profile/
I agree with pretty much everything from the article, the only two things I disagree with or just feel the writer hasn’t truly seen all of Boris’ potential is in regards to his skillset with the puck and his transition into becoming an NHL offensive production player.
In the article they discuss that his skillset is not his strong point, yet his hockey sense is phenomenal and exponentially getting better game to game. His ability to read plays and steal the puck, sometimes reminds me of my other favourite Russian player Magic Man. If you watch enough tape on Boris, you will realize he steals the puck, intercepts passes in the neutral zone, and breaks up passes in front of his own net better than most in the OHL. This all comes from his awareness of where he is on the ice and where he anticipates the puck will be going. On that note, I will say sometimes I do not like his positioning on offensive break outs and believe he needs the most work in this area. Once the puck is on the offensive zone, there is no one better on the boards with the puck than Boris on Soo. His compete level is very high and he will make you feel the pain if you try to hold the puck.
He is also very disciplined and rarely takes unnecessary penalties. Let’s not forget that this kid can drop the mitts and take a punch. Last year I was at the Guelph game with his brothers cheering frantically and insanely when he knocked off the visor of Noah Carroll and continued to pummel him with hooks. During his stint for Soo Thunderbirds last year, he also had a tussle with a brute of a grown man and won that fight as well, exchanging good shots. Sure he got knocked out by Connor Brown in the final week of the season, both throwing haymakers with Connor connecting a haymaker. But lets not forget that Brown is an overager, a bonified fighter with 11 fights this year alone, and the kid held his own falling to his knees and then getting right back up before getting his orbital bone broken with a massive right hook.
Oh ya, that’s right, he has helped lead Soo to a huge upset win in 7 games over Sarnia with a broken face essentially!
Although I can understand where the hockey writers are coming from in terms of his ability to transition to an offensive product in the NHL, I believe Boris has an exponentially high ceiling level with his finishing ability, and with the proper coaching could turn into a very, very good play maker and part time sniper. His ability to read a play with the puck and make a no look pass right on the stick to his team mates is what most stands out for me. Sure this play is dangerous sometimes, but he rarely ever makes a mistake with it, and if he does he hussles his ASS off to get the puck back. This was highlighted ever so clearly in game 7 when he made an errand no look pass into the left corner of Sarnia’s zone only to give it away to the defenseman waiting for it. What did he do right after though? Well he stopped the defensemen at the blue line, made a nifty move to evade the stick of a defense and saucered a beaaaauty pass to Bobby Mac right on his tape to take the 2-1 lead… which was huuuuuge for turning the game around as Sarnia was pressing very hard for the previous 5 minutes. This goal helped to deflate Sarnia a bit, and well the rest of what unfolded is history.
If you want to watch some video of the kid, here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzC3wNrWZyz06ZNvKpQX7Fw
I will be making another video of all of his goals and assists from the 2nd half of the season soon. I am just a bit too busy with playoffs right now and praying for my Red Wings to make it a quarter of a century!
