Tait Seguin making an impression on the prairies

The North Bay hockey world appears to be moving in a positive direction.

Dylan Staples was drafted by the Frontenacs this past spring and playing with the OHL squad this season. Dany Desrochers is raising eyebrows as a minor midget with the Midget AAA Trappers and is likely a lock to be a taken in the first few rounds of the OHL draft this summer, and underage Trappers forward Brett Hargrave is already being mentioned as a OHL first round pick in the spring of 2012.

But don’t forget about Tait Seguin.

The Astorville product is in his second year at Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan; a high profile private school in the prairies that has produced playes such as Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier and Curtis Joseph, to name just a few of the private schools NHL graduates.

“Being out there is an incredible thing, it's just an unreal experience and I love it,” said Seguin who has 4 goals and 13 assists in 27 games up to the Christmas break for the Notre Dame Argos, one of 2 Notre Dame team’s which play in the Saskatchewan Midget ‘AAA’ League.

“Playing with their bantam ‘AAA’ program last year was probably my biggest year of improvement and I really enjoyed it. What I think makes it so special is just the pride and tradition they have there. They have winning habits, they always seem to come out on top and the accomplishments they have there are just unbelievable."

While Seguin is a long way from the eye of OHL scouts, that doesn’t mean he isn’t causing a buzz in Ontario for the 2011 OHL draft.

“He’s a top 30 pick,” said one OHL scout about the 5’10”, 172 pound forward.

Former NHLer and current Lakers assistant coach Darren Turcotte worked with Seguin in the off-season.

"He's a little bit different skater than I was,” said the former OHL star with the Centennials back in the late 1980’s.

“He's very powerful and he's a tremendous (skating) forwards and backwards and he's got tremendous mobility also so he's got a lot of things going for him right now he just has to keep working at it and fine tune some of the other parts of his game. I think he's got a bright future ahead of him."

Seguin still has some tough choices to make. Even if he’s considered a top end OHL pick this summer, he’s still not sure which hockey route he’s going to take; Major Junior or NCAA.

"If that goes well then I will have a great shot at getting drafted this coming year and depending on how high I get drafted or if I get drafted at all then I will have to decide whether I go Major Junior route or NCAA route and that is going to be a tough decision coming up soon."