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A Top Gun Named Mavrik—Feb 28, 2020 - VOL. 73, Issue. 05 - Ryan Kennedy

MAVRIK BOURQUE IS NO stranger to the spotlight. As one of the highest-ranked QMJHL prospects for the 2020 NHL draft, he will get a lot of attention when the event hits Montreal this summer. But the Shawinigan Cataractes center has already been a high pick and he’s no stranger to high-profile events.

The Quebec International Peewee Tournament is a bucket-list event for hockey nuts, and Bourque had the privilege of playing in it twice, first with Victoriaville, then with Drummondville right before the old Colisee arena was torn down. “The first year I won the tournament, the year after I lost in the quarterfinal,” Bourque said. “It was amazing. They opened up the top (seats) and there were 12,000 fans watching. Now to continue to grow and to be in the present moment is fun.”

Bourque’s success in youth hockey led to the Cataractes taking him third overall in the 2018 QMJHL draft, and while that sounds like a pressure situation, it didn’t faze the kid: he finished second in team scoring as a rookie with 25 goals and 54 points in 64 games. “They didn’t give me pressure,” Bourque said. “They told me not to look at points in my first year and just play to get better. This season is going well as I build off last season.”

What Shawinigan does well is let their kids play. “That’s the value of our franchise,” said GM Martin Mondou. “We take our young players, give them responsibility and teach them. That is, for us, the best way to make sure those players end up being dominant prospects down the road. It’s unrealistic to have a kid come in at 16, be a fourth-liner, then next year expect him to come in and burn up the league. It’s not true. Mavrik played big power-play minutes last year, and he played against top lines, so it gave him a lot of experience, with positive teaching around it. That really paid off in his development.”

This year, Bourque is leading the Cataractes in scoring (with 71 points through 49 games), while linemate Xavier Bourgault – a 2021 NHL draft prospect due to a late 2002 birthday – ranks second. Bourque is destined to be a first-rounder this summer, and while he wants to work on his explosiveness, scouts would also like to see more grit to his game.

Having said that, there’s a lot to like about what he brings to the table. “Even though he has a lot of skill, his IQ is very good and his compete level is good,” Mondou said. “That’s what sets him apart from a lot of prospects right now, he really finds a way to change the game night after night. He can play with a lot of different players and perform. He’s not a big guy, but he’s hard to take the puck off of.”

His unique first name sets him apart, too, but don’t go cruising for the story behind it. “My parents didn’t give me a reason,” Bourque said. “Some people told me about the movie Top Gun, but it’s not from that.”

Well, at least we can still say he puts goaltenders in the danger zone.