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Oilers pick not a trailblazer
By
Robert Tychkowski, QMI Ageny
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  Jujhar Khaira, 63rd overall pick by the Edmonton Oilers, poses with team representatives during day two of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft at Consol Energy Center on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Penn. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images/AFP)
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EDMONTON - Jujhar Khaira doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about being a pioneer or a trailblazer. Instead, he thinks about scoring goals and messing people up — not necessarily in that order.
He wants to be known for being a power forward rather than one of the few East Indian hockey players drafted into the NHL.
Sure, his family and the East Indian community are proud of how far he’s come, but the way he sees it, he’s just a hockey player.
“They’re pretty happy about it,” said the Surrey, B.C., product, who went 63rd overall to Edmonton. “But I don’t think it’s that big of a deal what race you are. Everybody is fighting for the same position.
“It’s cool, though.”
The six-foot-three, 200 pounder from the Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL is a big kid who plays with an edge.
“I’m a power forward who’s good below the goal-line and at finding people in the slot,” he said, adding he’s fired up to be Oilers property.
“They’re a great team. My favourite player is on that team, Taylor Hall. I can’t describe the feeling right now, it’s great.
“I had a really good interview with them at the combine. But I wasn’t sure who was going to take me because you never know what is going to happen here.”
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ROBERT.TYCHKOWSKI@Sunmedia.ca
