Game On Magazine - April 2017 Game on Preview Edition | Page 80

PROFILE
Carson
Lambos
B y Sc o t t Tay l o r
Photos by Bruce Fedyck
Big
Strong
Skilled
Is Lambos
the next # 1
Carson Lambos can’t be
bothered with the pressure.
His older brother Jonny was
selected in the third round
of the 2016 Western Hockey
League (49th overall) by
the Victoria Royals and has
been playing midget in the
NAPHL with the Omaha
Lancers. Carson was a Grade
8 student last year and still,
he was playing a regular shift
on defense with the Canadian
School Sports League’s AAA
Bantam RHA Nationals. There
is a chance Carson, who is big,
strong and gifted, could be the
No. 1 overall selection in the
2018 WHL Draft. Still, he’s
not going to waste any time
thinking about it.
Last September, when
13-year-old (2003) Carson
Lambos decided to join the
8 0 | G AM E O N | S E P T EM BER 2 0 1 7
RHA Nationals as an age-
advanced Bantam player, head
coach Brad Purdie wasn’t sure.
The Nationals play in the
Bantam Prep Division of
the Canadian Sport School
Hockey League. It’s a tough,
competitive league made up
of some of the best 14-year-
olds in Western Canada. It
was not going to be an easy
assignment for a 13-year-old
Grade 8 student.
“Not knowing what to
expect from Carson before the
season started it’s safe to say
he was a pleasant surprise,”
Purdie said in late May.
“He was a player that may
have been on a few radars
before last season, but now,
after his play last season, he
will be regarded as one of the
best 2003 players in the West.
His strength, size, skating
ability, shot and hockey sense
make him a threat every time
he is on the ice.”
If you ask any number
of Western Hockey League
scouts, you’ll get many
different impressions of the
young defenseman. However,
there are enough of those
scouts who predict that
Lambos will be – and very
likely will be – the No. 1 pick
in next spring’s WHL Bantam
Draft that it’s hard to imagine
he won’t be.
“It’s hard to imagine he
won’t be the No. 1 pick,” said
one scout who requested
anonymity. “He was RHA’s
best defenseman and he was
only 13. And RHA had a good
team (23-5-2 in the CSSHL’s
Bantam Prep Division) and