Prince Albert Raiders' Josh Morrissey(1)Josh Morrissey's outstanding play on the blueline has been one of the few bright spots of the Prince Albert Raiders' disappointing season.
The 16-year-old rookie has quickly climbed the Raiders' defensive depth chart. Morrissey now munches more than 20 minutes a game and quarterbacks P.A.'s power play, having racked up five goals and 24 points throughout 41 games. He's also a team-best +9.
"At first it's an eye opener to see how much stronger and faster the players are in this league, but I've just learned to adjust to everything," says Morrissey. "It's all about confidence for me. Once I got the confidence of my teammates and coaches my game started getting a lot better."
The Calgary native's exceptionally smooth transition to the Dub from the minor midget ranks has exceeded nearly everyone's expectations, including those of Raiders GM Bruno Campese.
"Morrissey has definitely been a pleasant surprise this season," says Campese. "It's hard to know how a 16-year-old will do in his rookie season. For most it's hard for them to adapt to the speed and size of the league right away, but Morrissey is one of the few that have made it look easy. When we drafted him two years ago we knew he'd be good, but we didn't know he'd be this good this fast."
While he's surpassed his general manager's projections, Morrissey is yet to exceed his own. The 6-foot, 184-pound blueliner set goals this past off-season to score at least 35 points and maintain a plus/minus of +10.
"I set goals that I thought were reachable, but also goals that would keep me motivated and make me work really hard to reach," says Morrissey. "Being a plus player is huge for me. I feel I have to prove I can be really good in my own end and being a plus-10 player or better can show that. And my bread and butter is scoring, so scoring 35-40 points is something that I wanted to do to prove I can be a big time player in the offensive zone."
The sixth pick of the 2010 bantam draft will play a major role in the Raiders' fortunes in the upcoming seasons. Morrissey is expected to anchor their blueline and is already being considered as a possible future captain.
"He already leads our defence in points and I think plus/minus as well, so we definitely think he will quarterback our blueline for many years to come," says Campese. "His responsibilities on our team will continue to grow and I think he'll just continue to get better and better. He's a special player. And yeah, possibly captain material in a couple years."
Since Morrissey is already being touted as one of the top prospects of the 2013 draft class, one has to think his time in Prince Albert could be short-lived. His exceptional skill level and hockey sense could have him fast-tracked to the pros.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the NHL just a year after being drafted," says Campese. "But it's a little too early to jump to conclusions on how far away he is from the NHL since he's only a rookie in the WHL. The skill and smarts are there, he just needs to continue to keep on growing. I hope we can keep him in Prince Albert as long as possible, but I know a player that special has what it takes to make a real impact at the next level."
Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen.