Two players who played their youth hockey in California, and a third who was born in the state were selected on Day 2 of the NHL Entry Draft on Saturday. I write about all three at Calirubber.com

A few personal notes about each that you won’t read about there.

As impressive as defenseman Kyle Bigos‘ size is (6-5, 230 pounds), his commitment to improve his skating in recent years has really put him over the top with scouts. He was dominant in the RBC Cup this spring, and he played at a consistently high level in all three zones this past season, his second in the BCHL.He also led the Vernon Vipers’ blueliners in scoring.

Bigos (Upland) is an example of why persistence pays off in hockey. He was picked as a 20-year-old in a draft that can pick players as young as 18. And aside from one summer before he left to play in Saskatchewan, he didn’t play at the AAA level in California.

Right wing Mitch Callahan of Whittier is another example of where hard work can get a player. He played just one season of AAA in California, and even more impressively, he made the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets as a walk-on. As if that wasn’t a rare enough feat, he was an impact player for a team that came within one victory of winning the Memorial Cup. Callahan didn’t sit out one game all season and he was one of the toughest players in the league despite weighing well south of 200 pounds. And he could score – he had 27 points, including 14 goals, in the regular season.

The third player, right wing Brandon Kozun, was born in Los Angeles and might have played some of his earliest hockey here. A former coach of his older brother confirms they were part of the West Valley Wolves program at one point in the late 1990s. Kozun has an invite to the Canadian World Junior camp, and he put up 108 points, including 40 goals, for the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL.