Every Tuesday, the Kamloops Blazers have their older players practise in the morning before the high-school kids get their turn in the afternoon.

On one recent such day, Blazers GM/coach Shaun Clouston was a bit startled when he saw JP Hurlbert hit the ice after lunch.

“I’m sitting up there with our assistant GM and our head scout and it’s kind of like, ‘What is JP doing out there? Oh, yeah, he’s 17 years old,’” Clouston said with a chuckle in a telephone interview this week. “He just presents himself and portrays a lot of maturity. He’s just really immersed himself in the team environment.”

It hasn’t taken long for the native of Allen, Texas — just outside Dallas — to look quite comfortable playing for a promising team in the WHL.

After deciding to leave the U.S. national team develop

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