While there was more focus on Jacob Fowler, it was Sam Harris who had some bragging rights at the Canadiens’ development camp this month in Brossard.
Fowler is a leading candidate to become the Canadiens’ goalie of the future after being selected in the third round (69th overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft. Harris, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound left-winger, was drafted in the fifth round (133rd overall) the same year.
Fowler is coming off an outstanding freshman season at Boston College, where he posted a 32-6-1 record with a 2.14 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. Harris is coming off a freshman season at the University of Denver, where he had 14-7-21 totals in 42 games.
It was Harris who came out on top when Denver and Boston College met in the championship game at the NCAA Frozen Four tournament in April. Denver, the No. 3 seed, beat top-seeded Boston College 2-0 for its record 10th national championship — one more than the University of Michigan. Centre Michael Hage, selected by the Canadiens in the first round (21st overall) of this year’s NHL Draft, is headed to Michigan after taking part in the development camp.
“I’m fortunate enough I know Sam very well,” Fowler said at the development camp. “He’s a good friend of mine. We weren’t friends that night on the ice (in the NCAA final) but super-happy for him to kind of live out that dream and be back here at camp. There will be some chirps thrown around about that game.”
Fowler and Harris were teammates at the 2022 World Jr. A Challenge in Cornwall, Ont., when they helped Team USA win the gold medal, beating Canada East 5-2 in the final.
The Canadiens drafted Harris after he posted 30-26-56 totals in 56 games with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede during the 2022-23 season. Harris was born in San Diego, but his father, Steve, was a reserve for the Canadian show-jumping team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Harris played with the San Diego Jr. Gulls at the 2015 Quebec International Pee-Wee Tournament and later attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Minnesota, where he was an honour-roll student several times with a grade-point average of 3.8 (or better) out of 4. More than 40 players from Shattuck-St. Mary’s have gone on to make the NHL, including Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Toews.
Harris, who is studying marketing/business at the University of Denver, got off to a slow start during his freshman NCAA season and Rob Ramage, the Canadiens’ director of player development, went to visit him.
“I went and saw him, I think it was early February, and he was playing fourth line,” Ramage said. “Kind of limited minutes.”
Ramage knows Denver head coach David Carle well and spoke with him about Harris.
“We’ve had players in Denver for the last 10 years, so I know David,” Ramage said. “Great coach, really good program. Like him. He just said: ‘We got a really good team and he’s going to have to find his way because right now we’re stacked.’ They got some injuries. I didn’t think I’d go back and see (Harris) and he climbed the lineup and started scoring. So I went back and saw him play.
“It was interesting,” Ramage added. “They played a home-and-home with Colorado College. They lost in Colorado Springs the first night. Sam had a few turnovers and I’m thinking: Oh, boy, he’s going back to the fourth line. David threw him back out there the next night and he scored the game-winning goal. So great, great progression for him. He’s got a little swagger, too. He’s a champion.”
Harris is headed back to the University of Denver looking to win the NCAA championship again.
“Personally, I want to score more goals than I did last season,” he said. “The individual is good, but I want to win the championship again. The group we had last year was so tight and just everybody bought into the system. It was a challenge, but everybody stuck together and we pulled it off, so I want to go back-to-back.”
NCAA eligibility rules won’t allow Harris or Fowler to attend the main Canadiens training camp. Harris said he learned a lot at development camp, including how to manage the puck better and use his body to protect himself by using a reverse hit. He also learned a new slide-step move that Nick Suzuki likes to use by watching video of the Canadiens captain. Harris scored three goals in the scrimmage that wrapped up the development camp.
“It’s really important for me to do what I can do here and show everybody what I’m capable of,” the 20-year-old said. “Just really focusing on what I need to get done next season and the year after that. It’s all just preparation to one day hopefully play for this team and make it and earn a spot. That’s something I’m really looking forward to doing and going through that challenge.
“It’s real special to come out here and play for the (Canadiens) crest.”