Seattle center Scott Eansor is on a mission

It’s summer and for most 19 year olds that means hanging with your buddies, spending time at the beach and generally just taking it easy. That’s not the case for Scott Eansor.

The scrappy Seattle Thunderbirds center has been busy this off season. With a pro development camp and a USA hockey camp, the Colorado native hasn’t been slacking off in the sun. “This summer has been the most dedication I’ve put into hockey by a long shot, all I can do is prepare,” Eansor said earlier this week.

Hearing that one of the hardest working players on the team is working harder than ever has to be good news to the Thunderbirds’ coaches and fans.

Eansor is the kind of player every team needs. He can shut down the opposition’s top guns as well as chip in on offense and be a general annoyance. Last year he set career highs in goals with 14 and points with 37. He played the toughest minutes of all the T-Birds and still managed to end the season with a plus-2 defensive rating.

He doesn’t shy away from big moments either and has played perhaps his best hockey in the post season. In 15 career playoff games with Seattle, Eansor has potted nine goals. That kind of play is starting to get some attention outside of Seattle as well.

It started earlier in the summer when he was invited to take part in the Toronto Maple Leafs development camp. Eansor says it was an exciting experience and something that he learned a lot from.

“It’s an original six team, it was very special to wear that logo,” he said. “The experience was more skill development and it was a lot of fun to learn things from some of the best players in the world.”

As exciting as an NHL camp was, the biggest moment of this summer for Eansor starts on Saturday. Eansor, along with 38 other American skaters, will gather in Lake Placid for the week long USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp. The camp is the first step in determining who will represent the United States at this winter’s World Junior Championship in Helsinki, Finland.

For Eansor, making this team is as big as making the NHL.

“It’s been a goal of mine since I was first starting to watch hockey,” he said. “I never really watched the NHL but I always looked up to the world junior players and watched it. It’s a dream of mine so it’s really exciting to have an opportunity to be part of that team.”

Eansor admits that he’s a bit nervous about the camp but says his game plan is to just go and play his game. Seattle fans know what that means. It means he will use his speed and quickness to agitate and harass puck carriers, create turnovers and offense the other way. That kind of skill set can be a valuable asset to have in a tournament such as the World Juniors and Eansor has proven over the past two seasons that he can play with some of the world’s best junior players.

“I’m going to go in there and just play hockey,” he said. “This is pretty exciting for me to wear the US jersey. I’m really happy to be there but at the same time, I’m on a mission.”

After the camp is over, Eansor will again turn his attention to the upcoming WHL season with the T-Birds. Entering his third year with the team he is now looked at as one of the veteran leaders on what is still a young squad. With an opening for the captaincy, Eansor is someone who could be in the mix to wear the C this year.

“I think I always do my best to lead as much as I can on the ice and off the ice but honestly, no matter what, we have a lot of leaders in a good locker room,” he said about being a leader. “We have a really tight group. I think that this coming season, with the amount of leadership and amount of character in the room it’s going to be really exciting.”

Eansor is an emotional player and wears his heart on his sleeve after each game. He admits that it’s not always beneficial to be that emotional, especially when things aren’t going well. He said that he is working on being more even keel this coming year, without losing his edge.

When the T-Birds hit the ice to open the season on September 25th in Vancouver, Scott Eansor will be one of the more important players. He helps set a tone and plays the style that head coach Steve Konowalchuk has been looking to build over his tenure in Seattle. Eansor is the type of player who will do whatever it takes to help his team win. If that means he has to shut down a top player on the other club, he’ll do it. If it means that he needs to step up and score a big goal, he’ll do it.

It makes him a valuable asset but Eansor sees the game in simple terms.

“I feel like hockey is a game that is played with a defense and offense,” he said. “You win by doing both well. I just play the game that way.”

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.