I am not going to lie, after a less than stellar effort for the United States at back to back World Junior Championships and a round three of last spring’s WHL playoffs, one was starting to think that Medicine Hat Tigers star Emerson Etem might not be at his best when it matters most.

Forget about that early in this year’s run to the WHL title.

The Anaheim Ducks first rounder is coming off a league high 61 goal campaign and the Long Beach, CA. product has picked up right where he left off. Etem leads the league in playoff scoring with seven goals and 12 points after leading the Tigers to a somewhat surprising sweep of the Saskatoon Blades in round one – a matchup of the four and five seeds in the Eastern Conference.

In Game 2, the speedy winger was in on all five goals, and then in Game 3  he scored three times including the overtime winner, giving the Tigers a stranglehold on the series.

This season, at times, Etem has looked like a man versus boys. I reflect back to a game I broadcast on Shaw Television in Brandon in November when you swore he was going to score on every shift.  Etem has enjoyed an electrifying campaign, and looks to me like he will be toiling in the NHL next season.

Congrats.  I can’t wait to see what he has in store in round two.