Things are going better than expected for Owen Beck with the Rocket

Laval – Owen Beck admits straight away: things are going better than he anticipated in his first season in the American League.

The 20-year-old center dominates the Laval Rocket’s scorers with seven goals and 20 points in 23 games so far, he is the most effective on his team in the faceoff circle, and the head coach sees in him a future forward responsible for 200 feet and capable of playing on both special teams.

The assortment of assets is quite exciting.

I have expectations of myself and I push myself to be as good as I can,” Beck says. It’s definitely going a little better than expected, but it’s also not something that was out of the question.

Despite his initial successes, Beck was not overly triumphant. He maintains high standards for himself and in his eyes, things haven’t been perfect during the first third of the season.

We started strong in the first ten games, then the next 10 were perhaps not to my liking. I continued to produce, but I didn’t like my game, the decisions I made, what I did with the puck… It was a fight in my head.

And lately, I feel like I’m back to my level and I’m satisfied with my gamehe says.

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Important goals

Owen Beck is part of a group of five players who lead the American League with four game-winning goals. On Saturday, against the Toronto Marlies, he scored his second goal of the game with just 19 seconds left in the third period to give the Rocket a 5-4 victory.

Note that last season, in the Ontario League, Beck finished third in the circuit with nine winning goals, one less than the two players who shared the lead.

The young man doesn’t really have an explanation to describe his ability to hit at the opportune moment, other than this mentality that he seeks to cultivate to always keep the pedal to the floor, regardless of the score or the moment of the meeting.

I played several big matches in junior and I learned pretty quickly that you can’t sit on your laurels when you have a lead, said Beck. And when you’re a goal behind, of course you have to push. And at the end of the match, when the score is tied, the next goal can change everything and serve as a stab. We must therefore be able to seek this goal.

It’s partly luck, and partly playing the right way. I scored some important goals, but there was also one case where I scored in the second half and it was the only goal of the match. It counts as a winning goal, but not all of them are scored with 19 seconds left!

Keep your feet active

Pascal Vincent is happy to manage a player who immediately implements what he asks of him and who has good work habits. But the coach keeps an eye on things: he keeps reminding Beck that the key to success for him will be to always keep his feet moving, stay involved and avoid letting himself slide. If he can do this, all the details of his game will fall into place and he can experience success.

Beck speaks a little in this sense too, because if he wants to generate attack and defend well, he must respond at a higher rate.

I like to think that I’m a fairly complete player, so all aspects of my game have to come together, he says. I will never try to cheat to attack, because it affects other facets of my game. But I will always look to push the pace and create offense as much as I can.

The biggest adaptation is the pace of play. There isn’t a lot of space at this level. There aren’t many mistakes that result in scoring chances, so finding ways to score and produce is definitely more difficult. But it’s just as difficult because there are other good players at the other end of the ice who must be neutralized.

A form of leadership

In the junior ranks, Beck was seen as a player capable of providing leadership. He was an assistant captain with his first junior team, in Mississauga, at the age of 18, and he was also an assistant captain for Team Canada at the world juniors last February.

How is the leadership expressed by a recruit who arrives among professionals older and more seasoned than him?

According to Beck, it’s about proving he’s in control of the situation.

I consider myself quite mature, and I think that if I don’t need a lot of guidance from the older ones, it will show a bit of leadership in the sense that I will be accountable for my game, explains- he. The most important thing for me is to not be a guy that the older guys have to worry about and chase after in order for him to do the things he’s supposed to do.

Towards the Canadian

Jake Evans and Christian Dvorak could become unrestricted free agents next summer and it is normal to consider Beck as a possible replacement for one of these two players.

A few years ago, Evans was one of those players who, upon arriving in the pros, realized that he was not going to be able to reproduce his previous offensive success and that he was going to reach the NHL differently.

The American League therefore serves as a return to reality for players who learn to evaluate themselves correctly.

At the same time, if we tell all these players that their past production is history and discourage them from nurturing this aspect of their game, we will never develop an offensive player.

Beck is an interesting case in this regard.

He did not outrageously dominate the OHL offensively, and his defensive maturity as well as his attention to detail were praised by the recruiters who drafted him. But the Rocket can’t put the lid on his offensive potential either, as his production currently places him fourth among American League rookies.

Vincent treats his players on a case-by-case basis. Depending on their ability to adjust to a new level, some will need to be brought back down to earth, but others will be encouraged to spread their wings.

In general, most of these players have had great success at the lower levels. If the player arrives in the American League and his offensive qualities and his numbers decrease, that tells us that he will probably be forced to adjust his role and find another niche. If the numbers are constant, we say to ourselves that if he did it at this level and he does it at this level, he might do it (at the next level).

(The player) is going to need a chance, and he’s going to allow himself to give himself a chance by continuing to do this.

And Vincent alluded to it several times: in the case of Beck, do this means moving your feet, again and again.

In an ideal world, the Canadiens’ management would prefer not to rush the recall of hopefuls like Beck and let them mature to the point. There is therefore no guarantee, despite his success, that he will play a second game in the NHL this season.

But what the Peterborough striker wants to prove is clear and clear.

I just want to demonstrate that I will be able to play at the next level when the opportunity arises. I want to be consistent and be a guy you can count on. And if I’m nominated for a recall, I just want to be ready to rise to the occasionhe said.