Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League

Jake Dale, Notre Dame Hounds

Missing out on the playoffs is a new experience for Notre Dame Hounds rookie forward Jake Dale.

The 18-year-old Calgary product joined the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League Hounds this year after two successful seasons with the Midget AAA Hounds where that team captured a pair of Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League titles and went all the way in 2018 winning the Telus Cup, the national championship at the midget level.

The 6-foot-0, 180-pound Dale got out of the gates quickly after making the move to the junior level scoring three goals in his first three games this year, but like the rest of the team, putting the puck in the opposing team’s net became a difficult task for most of the season.

Dale enters the final game of the regular schedule this weekend with 10 goals and 10 assists in 50 games and while those numbers appear somewhat journeyman-like, they are the fifth highest totals on a team that had the second fewest goals scored in the entire league.

During his two seasons with the Midget AAA Hounds, Dale missed just one regular-season game and collected 27 goals and added 20 assists. In the playoffs over those two seasons he added another seven points in 21 games in addition to two points at the 2018 Telus Cup tournament and two more points in three games at last year’s western regional qualifying event.

The Hounds were a young team this year and Dale was at the top of that freshman crop. With one year of experience under his belt it is expected he will see a bigger role next year and with his past successes that should translate to more team success as well.