“Pro” goes pro with the Bakersfield Condors

Golden Bears’ forward Josh Prokop, or “Pro,” as referred to by his teammates in a manner fitting with the hockey lingo, is in fact, going pro.

Spoiler: hockey nicknames are seldom clever, but every now and then, ironic.

Another spoiler: this makes three former University of Alberta Golden Bears actively playing for the Edmonton Oilers‘ farm team in Bakersfield.

Prokop, with a 12-15-27 campaign his last season with the Bears, now adds another check mark in the Bears-turned-Bakersfield Condors column for the American Hockey League (AHL). This time on an amateur tryout.

Credit to him though, there’s not a lot of amateur tryout guys recording a point in their first professional game.

“It’s nice to see him get rewarded for his work,” Bears’ head coach Ian Herbers said earlier this season on Prokop’s consistent performance since joining the Bears.

“I’ve been here for four years, so I’ve been through a lot and seen lots of different things, and have experienced different things. So I think just using the past experiences that I’ve had on the team helps a lot,” Prokop said.

During his third and fourth year, Prokop captained the Bears to two Canada West semifinals — both settled in game three — and earned the Canada West Sportsmanship and Ability award in his fourth year. Oilers head coach, Kris Knoblauch, was also privy to that award during his time with the Bears.

As per Prokop, it comes down to “setting a good example each and every day, on and off the ice.”

“Basically from when I got here my first year, there’s me and two other players that left from our first go at nationals. Then we have a couple more guys that joined the next year when we went to nationals our second year.”

Fun fact: Prokop and two-time Oilers’ call-up, Noah Philp, played together during their 2021–22 seasons with the Bears, and like the ex that just won’t quit, now find themselves teammates again.

“The guys are great, and you get to really band together. You’re taking classes, you’re doing everything together,” Philp explained while reminiscing of his time with the Bears.

So maybe he’s not that upset about it, and why would he be?

“I thought it was so much fun being there.”

It was “fun” with the Bears, a college team in which you’re forced to do nothing but spend time together. But it might not be as fun with the Condors in a league reported to have a culture issues.

“It’s kind of a selfish league in the right that everyone’s trying to fight and compete with each other to be in the [National Hockey League (NHL)] at some point,” according to Derek Ryan with the Oilers, now a current center with the Condors.

It’s a tricky situation where older guys in the AHL, the ones that never get called up, are bitter and replaceable. While the Matt Savoies of the league, who will see a permanent spot on a NHL roster eventually, are just there to develop.

You can’t say it’s the reason for the Condors’ 28-25-10 record this season, but it certainly doesn’t help.

“You see guys that are just sour to be there. You can’t be like that, it’s a cancer. Nobody wants to be around you. It’s unfortunate,” Ryan added.

Big thing is, especially for a player coming out of his last season with the Bears — “you can’t have that attitude,” as Ryan has mentioned.

Not that it’s likely to be a problem — captains will be captains and all that — but it is a new environment that Prokop will have to adjust to if the amateur tryout gets a little more permanent.

Some things you probably didn’t know

• Ryan, Philp, and Prokop all attended the University of Alberta undrafted.

• Prokop captained the Calgary Hitmen prior to attending the U of A.

• In his first two years with the Bears, Prokop made it to the U Sports finals twice, one of which went into double overtime.

• Prokop recorded a hat-trick earlier this season against Trinity Western, during a shutout game on January 31. Shots on goal were 51-whatever for Alberta.