MOOSE JAW -- When the Moose Jaw Warriors made Lanigan’s Kash Elke their first-round selection in the 2025 Western Hockey League Prospects Draft this past summer, they knew they were getting a player with plenty of size and skill to go along with it.
Through the first two days of rookie camp at Temple Gardens Centre this week, Elke has lived up to the advance billing and then some.
To put it simply, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound forward has looked like a man among boys out on the ice, which isn’t much of a surprise given he’s among a crew of 15- and 16-year-olds taking their first steps in the WHL.
And like his peers, Elke has found the whole thing to be an eye-opening and extremely positive experience.
“Camp's been a blast,” Elke said shortly after his Team Red took a 6-4 win over Team Blue during a scrimmage on Friday afternoon. “Getting to meet some of the older vets, some of the older players, and getting to play with some of the new guys just like me, it's been a lot of fun.”
For as well as things have gone for Elke thus far, the increased calibre of play has been noticeable, as one might expect when you have some of the best players in western Canada taking the ice at the same time. That’s not a surprise for the former Humboldt Broncos U15 AA standout, though.
“Exactly what I expected,” Elke said. “It's a whole other level out here. Everybody's kind of at the same pace, same level, same skill and it's just been a very hard weekend, fun weekend.”
Warriors head coach Mark O’Leary has been impressed with what he’s seen from Elke, especially with how he’s improved from scrimmage to scrimmage.
“I think he's a great example of getting more comfortable as the camp goes along,” O’Leary said. “Seeing what type of player he is, he's a first-round pick, he's going to have the skill.
But watching that skill against some pretty good competition and seeing him improve, we're seeing more and more of what type of player he is.”
Elke -- who had 33 goals and 66 points in the Sask AA U15 Hockey League with the Broncos last season -- will next see action in main camp beginning Saturday, and that promises to be another step altogether when he’s out there with the likes of Lynden Lakovic, Pavel McKenzie and Connor Schmidt.
“He'll be at main camp, but certainly he earned it as well,” O’Leary said. “That's an important part of this camp too. You don't want guys skipping steps and they have to understand that whether it's hockey or life, you do have to work for it and there's other guys that want it too. So that's the compete aspect of things, but he did his part and it'll be fun to see him go up against some bigger, stronger, older guys.”
For his part, Elke is looking forward to the challenge.
“It's going to be a whole other level, but I'm ready for it,” he said.
However things turn out, as a 15-year-old Elke will be suiting up for the Tisdale Trojans in the Sask Male AAA Hockey League this coming campaign. He took the ice in six games with Tisdale last season and two goals and four points.
Main camp takes centre stage on Saturday, with scrimmages at 9 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 3 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. All ice times at Temple Gardens Centre are free and open to the public.
Camp concludes Sunday with the Red Grey Intrasquad Game, with puck drop at 5 p.m. Admission is through a donation to the Canadian Mental Health Association.
