Prospect Profile: “The Situation” of Drew Shore
By Amanda Land
Growing up most athletes dream of getting the chance to play in front of their hometown crowd or for a team they once watched from the stands. Drew Shore is one of the lucky, few hockey players that has had the opportunity to do just that. The 6-foot-3 Center hails from Denver, Colorado and was able to play three seasons in his hometown before making the jump to the pro-hockey circuit.
Shore got his junior hockey career started five years ago when he made his debut with the US National Team Development Program based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During his two seasons he played games for both the U-17 and U-18 teams recording 30 goals and 57 assists in all. Shore tallied 3 goals and 4 assists for team USA during the World U-17 Junior Challenge in 2007-08. The following year he donned the Team USA uniform again but this time at the 2009 Under-18 IIHF World Championships. His 2 goals and 7 assists helped Team USA leave the tournament with gold medals around their necks. On June 27, 2009 Drew Shore was selected during the 2nd round (44th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers. He was ranked 28th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and was one of the top offensive players for the US National Development Team.
In the fall of 2009, Drew joined the prestigious University of Denver Pioneers. During his freshman campaign, he played in 41 games picking up 19 points for the Pioneers who were the leagues regular season champions. Unfortunately, Shore and his team’s success didn’t carry over to the post season and the Pioneers had their season end when the RIT Tigers knocked them out of the NCAA tournament. The Pioneers were still a strong team the following season and Shore was a big reason for that. As a sophomore Drew led the Pioneers in scoring, tallying 23 goals and 23 assists in 40 games. Those stats earned him a spot on the WCHA’s Second All-Star team as well as the chance to represent the USA once again at the international level. Shore wore the red, white, and blue throughout the 2011 World Junior U-20 Championship and finished the tournament with 2 goals and a bronze medal. When the puck dropped for the 2011-12 season, Drew was one of the co-captains for the Pioneers after his sensational sophomore season. The 2010 Denver Cup MVP picked up right where he left off. He finished his third season with a team leading 53 points (22 goals and 31 assists) and was one of the league’s top goal scorers. He decided to chase his NHL dreams and signed with the Panthers in March of 2012. He joined the San Antonio Rampage immediately and helped them on their post-season playoff push. In his first 8 AHL games, he scored one goal and recorded two assists before the regular season ended. He added another two goals during the post season to complete his first pro-hockey stint.
Drew has 3 seasons remaining with the Panthers on his entry level contract.Shore is capable of playing a solid two-way game and has shown he knows how to find the back of the net. At the moment he’s not NHL ready, but will make a good addition to Florida’s line up once he has some more experience.
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