Goaltender Mackenzie Skapski has a rare opportunity this fall, to make a major junior hockey team just over a year after he was drafted.

He knows it won?t be an easy task joining the likes of Dan Blackburn and Bryan Bridges, but he?s got the confidence to make the Kootenay Ice this season.

?Obviously being a 16-year-old tendy is very hard in the WHL but I believe I can do it,? said Skapski. ?It?s up to the coaching staff.?

The Ice brass has the final say, but players are ultimately making the case for themselves.

With four goalies still on the roster and two exhibition games left, each netminder will get about 30 more minutes to prove himself before the regular season.

Seventeen-year-old rookie Brett Teskey and Nathan Lieuwen, 19, will split the duty in tonight?s home exhibition against the Tri-City Americans.

On Saturday in Spokane, 20-year-old Todd Mathews and Skapski would get the call.

That?s no minor feat for Skapski, who was seriously hurt in a bus rollover last December.

He sustained facial injuries while he and his major midget Fraser Valley Bruins were bussing north and hit black ice near Williams Lake.

?We were cruising down the road and we started to slide,? said Skapski. ?We went off the road and barreled four times. That?s all I recall, but it was definitely a character builder.?

Most of his teammates suffered bumps and bruises in the crash, but Skapski had to be airlifted to Vancouver.

He had surgery on his face and the back of his head, but after the three months he spent healing off the ice, Skapski is philosophical about the experience.

?It?s just a little bump on the road that you have to overcome,? he said, noting things are ?back to normal.?

?It was definitely tough sitting out and watching my team play, but it really opens your eyes to how quickly life can be taken away from you, and hockey is really just a game.?

Lieuwen can relate to Skapski in many ways. They are both from Abbotsford, where they worked together over the summer teaching youngsters the basics of being a ?tendy.? They also both played midget for the Bruins.

And like Skapski, Lieuwen had a good shot at making the Ice as a 16-year-old; being a passenger in a rollover left him with a serious concussion early in the 2007-08 season. After recovering, he spent the rest of that year in the junior A B.C. league.

Lieuwen hopes he can mentor Skapski, recalling how hard it was to sort through his own accident.

?There?s a lot of stuff that doesn?t necessarily have to do with hockey that you go through as well that can creep into hockey, and I think it?s really fortunate for him that I?m around because I hope that I can help him,? said Lieuwen. ?He seems like he?s doing quite well ? and give him all the credit for that ? but when he needs help or whatever I feel like I can be here to help mentor him and bring him along.?

Ice head coach Kris Knoblauch acknowledged the cards seem stacked against Skapski, given what he?s been through, his young age and the fact he missed half of last season.

?It?s very tough, but he?s come in here and battled, and pretty much said he wants to be here and made a statement,? said the coach.

Skapski has had a good time with the Ice so far, even if they didn?t get a win in three exhibition tries in Tri-City over the weekend.

?I?ve quite enjoyed it,? he said. ?I like the speed and I think I?m ready to make that next jump into the regular season.?

NOTES

Nathan Lieuwen remembers being like goaltenders Mackenzie Skapski and Brett Teskey: a bright-eyed rookie getting his first look at the steep learning curve the Western Hockey League represented.

?You have to learn how things work in the dressing room and you need to learn how things work on the ice,? said Lieuwen. ?It?s a completely different level that I wasn?t used to and I?m sure they?re not used to so there?s an adjustment period.?

He said he and fellow returning netminder Todd Mathews are willing to help the youngsters out however they can, but would recommend they follow their actions.

?They can just watch and see the way we work, see us working in the gym, see how hard we work on the ice,? said Lieuwen. ?We hope to model that behaviour for these guys.?

Injuries

The Ice will be short in numbers again tonight. With eight players still at NHL rookie camps and a couple of injuries, Kootenay will have just three full forward lines and a spare skater against the Tri-City Americans.

They?ll have a full complement of six defencemen and two goalies.

Elgin Pearce (foot), and Ryan Bloom (back) aren?t expected to play tonight, although Erik Benoit, Brendan Hurley and defenceman Jeff Hubic are penciled in (concussion).

With so much ice time to be split between so few forwards, head coach Kris Knoblauch said he would advise them all to play hard.

?If you run out of gas by the third period, so be it. I?d hate for you to play an entire game and have something left,? he said. ?Don?t be pacing yourself, because that?s not a good sign.?

Tonight?s exhibition game gets underway at 7 p.m. at the Cranbrook Rec Plex.