Ben Manson

There is unlikely another player in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League that has bigger footprints to step into, but Ben Manson is quickly making his own imprint in the game.

Manson, an 18-year-old rookie rearguard with the La Ronge Ice Wolves, is the son of former NHL defenceman Dave Manson and the younger brother of current blueline stalwart Josh Manson of the Anaheim Ducks.

With the shadows of those two hovering over him it would naturally be expected that the 6-foot, 180-pound Prince Albert product would stand out on his bloodline alone. The younger Manson, however, has quietly gone about carving out his own career and through incredible work ethic has stepped into the Ice Wolves line-up and made an impact.

Manson went through his first 12 games with La Ronge without registering a point, but in his last four outings he has a goal and an assist to go with 22 minutes in penalties.

Prior to joining the Ice Wolves, Manson only played a handful of games at the Midget AAA level leaving him to develop his skills with the Midget AA Raiders in Prince Albert. Manson finished his midget career with a flourish collecting one goal and five assists in six playoff games with the Raiders last spring and he even got into three games with the Midget AAA Mintos, scoring once, to give him additional experience and confidence.

As a 16-year-old, Manson played in 26 games with the Raiders and put up five goals and seven assists and again he saw action in a pair of Minto games.

With two more years of junior eligibility remaining after this season, Manson will undoubtedly continue to improve and if everything falls into place maybe he will head off somewhere for a burgeoning college career, similar to what Josh did before making it to the NHL.