Patrick King

Drew Owsley's success can't be measured by his vitals.

The Tri-City Americans' goaltender is one of the biggest surprises in the Western Hockey League this season. His emergence is even more surprising when you take into account his small stature. At 5-foot-8 and 156 pounds, Owsley doesn't possess the prototypical size, but is an example of how far dedication and perseverance can carry an individual.

"There was always a knock on him that he wasn't big enough to succeed at this level," acknowledged Americans general manager Bob Tory. "I think he's proven through hard work, perseverance and a tremendous attitude that he can get the job done."

The Lethbridge, Alberta, product had a lot to prove this season. Not only had he not been chosen in the WHL bantam draft, he spent last season fighting Brett Martyniuk for backup minutes behind Nashville's first-round pick Chet Pickard.

With Pickard moving on to the professional ranks this season, the starting job was open for the taking. Owsley spent the summer in the gym training with Tri-City's goalie coach Jerry Price, father of Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price.

"We weren't sure who was going to be the guy," Owsley admitted. "(The team) just told me to work hard in the summer and to want the starting job and I kind of took that to heart."

"He's taken the ball and run with it," Tory added.

Owsley forced head coach Jim Hiller's hand in the early going, hardly yielding the crease while establishing himself as one of the league's top goaltenders. Martyniuk was then traded to Regina.

However, despite leading the league in wins and being near the top of every statistical category, Owsley is still fighting for his minutes this season. Russian goaltender Alexander Pechurskiy, a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, joined the Americans over the Christmas break.

Tri-City drafted Pechurskiy with their first pick in the Canadian Hockey League import draft, 55th overall. Pechurskiy began the season playing for his hometown team in Magnitogorsk in the Kontinental Hockey League, but was made available to the Americans after getting caught up in the numbers game back home.

Pechurskiy gave the Americans another quality goaltender and put Owsley back in the all too familiar position of sharing the crease and earning his ice time.

"I have to play well every night or he's going to get to go in and I think that competition's been good for me," Owsley said.

The team has not named an official starter and Tory says they'll play the hot hand, which has been Owsley of late.

"It's a results-oriented position," Tory said. "The guy who's going (well) is the guy who's going to get the majority of the starts."

While it's not uncommon for goaltenders to feud over ice time, that's never been the case in Tri-City. Owsley maintains a healthy mindset over the new-found competition with his Russian teammate.

Among the many lessons Owsley learned from Pickard last season was to foster a healthy relationship with his goaltending partner. Pickard served as a mentor for Owsley, just as Price had served as his mentor when he was a young goaltender in the WHL.

It's a situation that enables the Americans to remain competitive on an annual basis and Tory is looking forward to his young goaltender returning the favour.

"We'll probably have another young goalie here next year that Drew will have to mentor as well to take his job one day when he moves on to the pro ranks," Tory said.

While Pickard has moved on to the American Hockey League this season, Owsley maintains contact with his mentor through Facebook. He credits part of his success to the lessons learned from Pickard.

"It was an honour to skate by his side out there," Owsley said.

Not surprisingly, given his lack of ice time, the 18-year-old Owsley was passed over by National Hockey League teams in last summer's draft. He aspires to earn an invitation to an NHL training camp or, better yet, get drafted this time around.

As for the criticism towards his size, Owsley uses that as motivation to earn a living. Owsley's advice for smaller hockey players in similar situations is not to give up.

"People are going to tell you you're too small and all that, but just keep working hard and have faith in yourself," he said.

"Size is only a factor if you allow it to be a factor," Tory said. "If you fight through that and determine your play is going to determine your results, not the size, that's the most important thing."

In measuring Owsley's success, the most important thing is his stats, not his stature.