Heavy hitter's a better shooter now

Steve Ewen, The Province

September 18 2007

Lending an old buddy a hand may have been the biggest help Chilliwack Bruins winger Partik Bhungal could give himself.

Bhungal, 19, grew up in Langley with Dan Spence, the goaltender for the Calgary Hitmen.

When he came home this summer, Spence was looking to work on his technique with coaches and needed a shooter to put him through drills a couple of times a week.

He promptly called on Bhungal.

"He's a good goalie, but I lit him up a couple of times," said Bhungal with a smile. "He had the great saves against me, too.

"It was a good. It was a lot of shots and you get tired after a while, but it makes you

stronger. One day I woke up and I noticed I was shooting a lot better, and I was, like, 'Whoa, this is working.'"

Bhungal is best known as a tough customer, with bouts against noted heavyweights Milan Lucic and Matt Kassian among his 10 fights as a WHL rookie last season.

His other stats, with one goal and two assists in 48 regular season games and five playoff encounters, are easy to breeze past.

He's a better player than all that.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder moves well enough that Chilliwack used him regularly as a penalty killer a season ago.

And he was right at home in the playoffs against a feisty Vancouver Giants team.

"He was our most-improved player last year and we think he'll keep progressing this season," said Chilliwack general manager Darrell May. "I think he's very underrated. He skates better than people realize -- he gets there in time and he forces turnovers, and he can work the end wall.

"I know the coaches really like his work ethic. He plays hard, shift in, shift out and he's a leader. He's the first guy to step up for his teammates and he has a lot of respect in our dressing room. I expect he'll wear a letter this year."

Bhungal is expecting much of himself this season, too. He's aiming for a 15-15 campaign --15 goals, 15 fights.

That's a lofty increase in tallies, especially when you consider that Bhungal had two goals, to go with three assists, in 60 BCHL games with the Powell River Kings in '05-06.

Still, he does sound as though he knows what's at stake.

"I want to be a more all-around player this year," he said. "It's a big key in having a chance at moving up to the next level and at making the team next year as an over-age."