Burnaby boy Beijing bound

Luke Lockhart was a man with a plan for the next year.

It called for the Burnaby Minor Hockey Association product to play one more season for the University of B.C. Thunderbirds, complete his sociology degree and then look to play pro. He didn’t have a hockey destination, or geographical one for that matter, in mind. Certainly China wasn’t on the plan’s map. Neither was one of the sport’s most brilliant and notorious coaches.

They are now.

He was talking to a boyhood buddy of his, Zach Yuen, a former fourth-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets. This past season, Yuen played defence for the HC Kunlun Red Star of the Continental Hockey League in Beijing.

When Lockhart asked him about the experience, Yuen mentioned the team was looking for players with Chinese heritage. Lockhart fits that bill because his mother Dale is Chinese.

At first, Lockhart balked telling Yuen he’d certainly be interested in another year. But then Yuen told him about a tryout camp in early June at Burnaby 8-Rinks. “You should go,” Yuen said.

So he did. The team’s owner, management and new head coach Mike Keenan were all there. They liked what they saw and asked him to come play for Red Star this year. So they worked out a deal and on Canada Day, along with UBC goalie Derek Dun of Surrey, Lockhart hopped on a plane bound for China.

“It should be quite fun,” said Lockhart of his upcoming puck adventure. “It’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Lockhart grew up just north of Metrotown. The Seattle Thunderbirds selected him in the seventh round of the Western Hockey League’s bantam draft in 2007. He played five seasons for the south-of-the-border T-Birds finishing up as team captain. He scored 75 goals and 165 points in 345 games, which is the second most played in franchise history. After he aged out he retained the T-Bird moniker by joining UBC where he scored 36 goals and 74 points in 110 games over four seasons on the Point Grey campus.

Although he didn’t talk to Keenan at the camp, “I’m sure he has a bit of a say of the players they’re bringing in and how they’re structuring their team,” Lockhart said. 

Keenan had a long and soap opera-ish coaching career in the NHL. His tough, and often strange, motivational techniques gave him a shelf life of no more than four years in any one spot. He’s been the bench boss for eight NHL teams, including the Vancouver Canucks. His New York Rangers in 1994 beat the Canucks in a seven-game Stanley Cup final. Keenan spent the last three seasons in the KHL with Magnitogorsk Metallurg winning a league championship in 2013-14.

“I’m excited. He’s a legend,” said Lockhart. “I remember him when he was coaching the Canucks when I was young (1997-99). Obviously he has a reputation of wanting his players to be hard working, but I look forward to that. It’ll be a great learning experience, and I look forward to that.”

Despite his heritage, he’s never been to China. However, Yuen and some other friends who’ve been over there have told him he’ll be able to adjust. “I’m definitely nervous and a little excited at the same time.”

Lockhart doesn’t speak Chinese but has started downloading some apps to learn some basic Mandarin. Unfortunately, his mom’s ability to learn the lingo is limited because she speaks Cantonese.

“She’s excited for me as well. It’s a great opportunity. Both my parents (Dale and Guy) think it’s a great opportunity to further my hockey career as well as (the cultural) experience. It’s not every day somebody can say they moved to China to pursue a career. Obviously they want me to finish my school as well, but they know I’m close enough that I’ll get that done.”

Lockhart won’t rule out eventually realizing his dream of the NHL. He looked at turning pro when his junior career was done and almost took a job with an Italian team, but at the last minute chose UBC. He wanted to make sure any pro contract he signed would cover the costs of schooling that he’d lose from the WHL scholarship program if he turned pro and then decided to go back to school. “It was better for me to go out to UBC and it worked out for me.”

Lockhart said he signed a guaranteed three-year contract with Red Star which includes housing. The first two years it’s a two-way deal where he’ll get paid less if he’s sent to play in a development league, but the third year is one-way. He wouldn’t say how much the contract is for although he admitted, “They definitely take care of you. It’s definitely good financially for me as well as playing wise, hockey wise and career wise. You get to play with a lot of great players.”

So now Lockhart is a man with a new plan. A much more exotic one that ranges from Beijing to Riga, Latvia.

“The travel will be pretty hectic, but you’re well taken care of. It’ll be good,” he said. “It’s definitely exciting. I’ve never been to those other countries, but you’re there for hockey, you’re there on business, but to get to see those places at the same time, it will be a pretty cool experience.