Looking back, it’s hard to believe nobody picked Michael Kirkpatrick the first time he was eligible for the QMJHL draft.

The North Sydney native was overlooked in the 2006 draft after a decent major midget season with the Dartmouth Subways in 2005-06, but was taken in the second round (22nd overall) by the Saint John Sea Dogs a year later. He said it was hard to be patient while he bided his time in Junior A with the Pictou Crushers during the 2006-07 season but looks back now and knows his patience was worth it.

Kirkpatrick, an 18-year-old forward, is tied for third in QMJHL goal scoring with 18 in 29 games, just two goals behind league leader Matthew Pistilli of the Shawinigan Cataractes.

"Junior A was a great experience for me," Kirkpatrick said. "I learned a lot from everybody that was there. Coach Troy Ryan really taught me a lot and took me under his wing.

"I had a lot of buddies up here (in the Q in 2006-07) and I thought I could be up here so it was definitely hard for me. But that junior A team, the Crushers, taught me a lot."

Kirkpatrick made a solid transition to the Quebec league as a 17-year-old last year, scoring 22 points in 69 games in a supporting role. But he’s been skating on the Sea Dogs’ top line with Ryan Sparling and Chris DiDomenico for most of this year and he’s made sure not to waste the opportunity.

He is the current QMJHL offensive player of the week after posting four goals and five points in two games last week and just scored two goals and was named first star in his last game, a 5-4 shootout win over the Halifax Mooseheads on Tuesday.

"I feel great," said Kirkpatrick, who also had two assists in the win over the Mooseheads. "I’ve got two great linemates with me – Sparling and Dido. They just feed me the puck and it’s pretty easy to score when you’ve got two guys like that with you.

"Last year I was known as a defensive forward and this year I knew I had to get out and score more goals if I wanted to be more offensive. I just worked hard over the summer and worked on my shot a lot. I think that’s been the key, was to work on my shot and get a quicker release."

Not surprisingly, Kirkpatrick’s hot streak has coincided with a surge for the Sea Dogs. They’ve rebounded from a lacklustre start to move into sixth overall in the league with a 17-10-1-1 record.

"We lost a lot of guys at the start of the year to NHL (camps) and we lost a lot of games during that time," Kirkpatrick said. "But now that we’ve got everybody back it seems like we’re playing more as a team lately. If we just keep that up then we’ll be successful."

( wpalov@herald.ca)