Thunderbirds -- Kelman May Become Two-Sport Star

CENTER SCOTT KELMAN, A SOLID TWO-WAY PLAYER, IS EXPECTED TO BE DRAFTED EARLY BY THE NHL BUT ALSO HAS DRAWN ATTENTION FROM BASEBALL SCOUTS.

While Chris and Cole Kelman were in school each day as youngsters in Winnipeg, their toddler brother, Scott, taught himself to read by swiping and studying their hockey and baseball trading cards.

Now 17 and a Thunderbird fan favorite, he autographs dozens of Scott Kelman hockey cards.

In a few years, collectors might find one showing Kelman wearing an NHL uniform. Or maybe he'll have to choose which kind of card will bear his likeness: hockey or baseball.

NHL Central Scouting ranks the T-bird center No. 6 among draft-eligible North American skaters. The Red Line Report, an independent scouting service, rates the top 150 skaters from Europe, colleges and pro minor leagues. Kelman is 32nd on that list.

So he's expected to go early in the NHL Entry Draft June 26 in Boston, about three weeks after Major League Baseball conducts its free-agent draft by teleconference.

Kelman's intelligence, coupled with his sturdy, 6-foot-2, 188-pound physique, has attracted baseball scouts.

He pitched and played shortstop for Team Manitoba for two summers. His no-hitter in the Canada Blue Jays Cup the first season and a winning grand slam in the tournament the next drew attention from several clubs, including the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals.

So, he could be drafted in both hockey and baseball. For now, Kelman wants to help the T-birds reach the Western Hockey League finals for the second time in three years.

He might seem to skate in the shadows of linemate Bret DeCecco, the team captain who's on pace to surpass the T-bird scoring totals of Patrick Marleau and Mark Parrish. Or Torrey DiRoberto, whose four-point night Sunday relegated Kelman to fourth among Seattle scorers. Or Oleg Saprykin, the 17-year-old Russian rookie who has a 12-game points streak.

In 41 games, Kelman already has scored 16 more points than he did in 61 games last season. He needs two goals to equal his rookie output, and he's one away from doubling his number of assists.

"He's right on course," Coach Don Nachbaur said.

Kelman's play with and without the puck has raised eyebrows. "He can be a real handful for a defenseman. It's hard to ride him off the puck," said Marcel Comeau, a scout for the NHL expansion Atlanta Thrashers.

He said the T-birds see Kelman as proficient on both ends of the rink. "They think very highly of his skills without the puck. He's good at catching people on the backcheck," Comeau said. "He's thought of as a good two-way player."

Nachbaur has used Kelman extensively on both the power-play and penalty-kill units.

Last season, with Marleau staying in the NHL at San Jose, Tyler Willis turning pro and several teammates hurt, Kelman played more than 16-year-olds customarily do. That crash course gave him the confidence coaches and scouts seek. "The team counts on him, and that speaks well of his progress," Comeau said.

"Scott got quality ice time last season, and we expected him to carry on from there," Nachbaur said. "There's no doubt in our minds he's done that. We have a young team, but we have quality people who take it upon themselves to be leaders. That's part of being a winner."

Kelman's brothers are seven and five years older, but played a part in making him a winner on the ice.

"They let him tag along when they'd go out to play," their mother, Barb Kelman, recalled.

The roots of Kelman's leadership reach back to the days he played "road hockey" on the icy streets of Winnipeg, pick-up games with kids of all ages and sizes. That taught him to mesh with a variety of styles, skill levels, gifts, egos and idiosyncrasies.

But Kelman is blessed with a genuine interest in others, one trait of successful leadership.

"His brothers are really interested in computers, but Scott's not," his mother said. "He's more interested in people. We'd get more calls from school. The teachers would always say Scott had no problem getting his work done - the problems were the people he was talking to all the time who couldn't get their work done!"

But Kelman, a senior at Lake Washington High School, defies the stereotype of the hockey player who goes to class, mingles little and dashes off to practice after the final bell. It's not unusual to see his classmates at KeyArena.

Often players who socialize find their commitment to their sport slipping. But Kelman has made his presence known on and off the ice.