This past draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs picked Jack Walker in the sixth round, 152nd overall. It wasn’t his first time through the draft - he was 19 when he was selected, and he’s 20 now - but he was coming off of an 84 point season through 72 games, so why not, right? That was good for 14th in league-wide scoring in 2015-16.
Now, it’s the 2016-17 season. Walker has just three goals in three games to start off his final year of junior hockey, but the cool thing about them is they all came at once.
With endless thanks and credit to Maple Leafs Hotstove for the video of Walker’s hat trick to kick off his scoring this season:
Walker scored all three goals for the Victoria Royals in a 3-2 win. The first one appears right at the start, as he kicked off the scoring just 14 seconds into the game. His second goal is at 1:10 in the video, tying the game up after his Royals fell behind 2-1. And the hat trick goal comes in at about 1:30, with Walker again having been an open recipient for all three tallies - and the only one to put the puck in the net for his team.
What better way to kick off your season than with a hat trick? Good luck to Walker through the rest of the season!