By Jeff D’Andrea

Mintos may have found themselves a beauty in Barlage

Feb 24, 2015 | 4:20 PM

He’s still playing his first year of Bantam AA hockey, but Logan Barlage has already won over the Prince Albert Mintos coaching staff.

Barlage (pronounced bar-LOG-eee) scored in his scored in his Midget AAA debut for the Mintos Saturday in a 4-1 win over the Moose Jaw Generals. He even flew around on the top line with Reed Gunville and Brett Harasymuk for a few shifts.

After the game, Mintos bench boss Tim Leonard cracked a wide smile the second Barlage’s name was mentioned.

“He’s going to be a dandy. I’m sure glad we got our hooks in to him early,” said Leonard. “He came out in practice early in the year, and the one thing I heard about him was his skating wasn’t really what it needed to be. But for a 13-year-old kid, he gets up and down the ice extremely well.

“It was good to see him score, he had a big smile on his face. Hopefully in the future, the Minto fans will enjoy watching him.”

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Western Elite Hockey Prospects (WEHP), a scouting service specializing in future WHL prospects, currently has Barlage ranked in their top three players in his age group in Western Canada , and believing he could be drafted that high in the 2016 WHL Bantam Draft.

WEHP’s scouting report highlights Barlage’s skill and usage of his size.

“Big, strong winger/centerman. Has great speed and hands. Very gifted offensively and has the size to back it up. Board play is great. Hard shot with a quick release. Could be a lot more aggressive on the fore-check and in his own end. Needs to take advantage of his size. His lack of foot speed seems due to the fact of his quick growth in height. He is a tough forward to handle for any team.”

Barlage finished the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League regular season as the top rookie scorer with 35 goals and 62 points in 31 games this year with the Humboldt Broncos. That doesn’t include the playoffs, which starts on Wednesday against the Saskatoon Stallions.

Last year in the Pee Wee AA ranks with the Broncos, Barlage scored 175 goals and 274 points in 56 games—that isn’t a typo—175 goals in 56 games. He also led the Broncos to a Centre Four Pee Wee title that year, scoring four goals in the second leg of the finals to beat Warman.

“I like to score a lot,” smiled Barlage, as he held his first Midget AAA goal puck tightly in his right hand on Saturday. “That’s my favourite part of the game, scoring goals.”

Barlage’s coach back in Humboldt is Ken Lockinger, who’s been behind the Bantam Broncos bench for almost a quarter of a century.

He’s coached the likes of Dustin Tokarski, currently playing for the Montreal Canadiens and is also a Mintos alumnus. Other players formally under Lockinger’s tutelage were Reid Gardiner, the current goals and points leader with the Prince Albert Raiders, and his younger brother Erik, who’s having a great rookie year with the Mintos and has already had a WHL point as a 15-year-old.

But Lockinger said that Barlage is still one of the top players he’s had the pleasure of teaching.

“For me, (Barlage) is one of the better guys I’ve ever coached in our minor hockey system and I’ve been doing this for 24 years,” said Lockinger. “I can see him being a very, very good Western Hockey Leaguer in the future– hopefully even beyond that.

“I have some important cogs on our team… I have my captain on defenceman but without (Barlage), we’d be a pretty average hockey club, at best.”

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea