For over forty years Lorne Frey has been perfecting the craft of projecting young hockey players.

It's an incredibly inexact science that can make or break several years for a hockey team in sometimes only a few hours. Nobody in the WHL carries as long and as consistent a track record as Frey.

“I think just luck” Frey said. “We've been lucky. I'll be the first one to say it. When you draft a player you don't know what's going to happen. We've been very fortunate over the years to select individuals who have developed into very good hockey players.”

There is a certain amount of luck involved in any craft. To credit Frey's success to simple fortune would undercut a very impressive career. Teams Frey has helped build have won six WHL Championships and two Memorial Cups not to mention years of regular season success and more NHL draft picks than you would want to count.

Frey started as an Assistant GM with the Broncos in 1986 and has been leading the scouting for the then Tacomo now Kelowna Rockets since 1991. To put that inperspective Broncos Director of Hockey Operations Jamie Porter is one of the longest tenured head scouts in the WHL and first took on that role in 2006.

That doesn't mean the 66-year-old rests on his laurels.

“Every year even at my age I still keep evaluating,” Frey said. “If a young man turns out to be a good player what did we miss here? How can we correct ourselves and maybe look at it a different way? It's changing. Smaller players are becoming way more active in the league and way more dominant. It's an ongoing process.”

If you're looking for a magic system or formula there isn't one. Frey has logged countless miles on the road over the years (although he is on a plane a lot more these days) and has learned to trust his gut.

“We just basically trust our instincts,” Frey said. “One thing we really do is try to project two or three years down the road. One of the big keys for us has been I believe in our players. We don't make a lot of trades and we have to develop our own players. If we can't make them better players... I'm not naive enough to know that some of them don't turn out, but you've got to be patient and you've got to make sure they get an opportunity to develop into what we think they can become.”

Frey first found success helping build the Swift Current Broncos that won the 1989 Memorial Cup and some of the pieces that went on to win the 1993 WHL Championship as well. From almost day one he has been successful finding talents in southwest Saskatchewan.

“We've been lucky,” Frey repeated. “Even when I was in Swift Current we were fortunate we had some very good local players in the Kruger boys, Tim Tisdale, Trent McCleary and guys like that. We did rely a little bit on our local players at that time, but you're always looking and trying to find the best players no matter where they're at.”

That tradition of mining the southwest continues to this day with Shaunavon product Kole Lind playing a vital role for the Rockets.

Even though Frey left the Broncos over 25 years ago to form a very successful partnership with Bruce Hamilton, he still has a soft spot for Swift Current's WHL club.

“I'm thrilled this year for them,” Frey said. “I could see it last year they were bringing in some good young players. I'm excited for them. I hope they continue to roll and continue to go as they are. I think they've got a real good team and I think they're going to be able to build on this team. I'm happy for them I wish them nothing but the best.”

He even gets a kick out of seeing the old 1980s style jerseys the Broncos went back to in recent years.

“Love them,” Frey said. “I still think they're one of the nicest uniforms in the league and I love them.”