I don’t even remember where they came from, but I wished I would have thrown these treasures into the box when I left the job. I had some old hockey media guides from the Western Hockey League, the kind of things you hang onto because they’re cool.

On the cover of one was my favorite Avalanche player Joe Sakic. Part of the jersey he was wearing was from Colorado and the other half Moose Jaw Warriors, giving a nice visual that Captain Joe came through the Western Hockey League on his way to the Stanley Cup. Sakic was the WHL most valuable player and the Canadian Major Junior player of the year back in the day.

Another media guide had Michael Modano Jr. with that same split uniform of the Dallas Stars and the Prince Albert Raiders from Saskatchewan. Modano was from this side of the 48th parallel. He scored a hat trick in his very first WHL game. Four days before his 18th birthday, the Minnesota North Stars selected him as the first overall draft pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, making him just the second American to be selected first overall in the draft.

But the real treasure, the one I really wish I would have remembered to grab, was a media guide with The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, in all his glory as a 16-year-old budding superstar on the cover of a Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds booklet. The Great One played just the one season in the Ontario Hockey League on his way to legend in the NHL.

It’s amazing how crazy good these guys were at such a young age. But they’re out there, young guys with big dreams.

There’s another one on the way playing for the Denver University Pioneers. Troy Terry, a 19-year-old from Highlands Ranch, Colo., is just two months away from a starring role in the United States’s gold medal performance at the World Junior Championship for the under-20 Americans. Terry, who was selected by Anaheim (148th Overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, enters Frozen Faceoff ranked third in Denver University scoring history with 19G-17A-36P (30GP) on the season.

Now I’m not going to go all gushy and start comparing guys from the Moses Lake Coyotes to the Great One or Captain Joe, but they can play hockey in this town to be sure. The under-10 Coyotes put Moses Lake on the map in bringing home the U10 state championship.

I had a chance to sit down with Lakeview Elementary fourth grader Keegan Stickel, who scored the game-winner in the title match. He’s pretty sharp for a kid and didn’t seem to intimidated by a guy with a recorder, writing down his every word.

“So who’s your favorite hockey player,” I asked, expecting him to say Brett Hull or Wayne Gretzky.

“I would say Tyler Johnson,” he said without hesitation.

Ain’t that America? Tyler played his Tier III junior hockey with the Coeur d’Alene (Idaho) Lakers of the Northern Pacific Hockey League. He later helped the Spokane Chiefs win the 2008 Memorial Cup and was named the WHL playoffs' most valuable player as a 17-year-old rookie.

Johnson’s with the Tampa Bay Lightning now days and played in the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals.

I find it interesting that a local kid, who trains at the Gretzky Hockey School in Idaho, has a local hero for his favorite hockey player. Come to find out, Johnson’s mother was Keegan’s dad’s coach when he was his age.

I shot a picture of Keegan for the article. He had the puck he scored the game-winner with, so I asked him to flip it while I blasted away. As you might expect, he’s got this goofy expression trying to watch the puck into his hand.

“Dude, you don’t have to catch it. You just have to look cool doing it,” I said, looking him dead in the eye, the photographers equivalent of banging the stick on the ice calling for the puck.

Next time, the kid was nails, great expression, cool smile, puck hanging in the air as he looked into the lense like the second coming of the Great One.

Did he catch the puck? Of course, like banging home the game winner.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@colimbiabasinherald.com