Much has been made about Lowry's pedigree. His father is a veteran of the NHL who played for the Canucks, Blues, Panthers, Sharks, and Flames. His younger brother, Adam, took the alternate path of Joel. He currently plays for the Swift Current Broncos in the WHL, a Canadian major junior league. We think that Joel made the right choice.
Joel Lowry joined the Victoria Grizzlies of the very respected and very competitive BCHL. He represented the Grizzlies for two seasons. His consistency and grittiness began to show even then. He accumulated 133 points with appearances in only 117 games. His 2010-11 season was abbreviated because he suffered an injury that kept him off the ice for nearly two complete months. Notwithstanding this injury, Lowry accumulated almost twice as many point as he had in his first season with the Grizzlies. This tear led him to become the highest scorer in terms of points per game in the BCHL. Even with this hiatus, Lowry remained the second-highest scorer in terms of points for the Grizzlies.
Lowry returned to hockey next to don the carnelian and white at Lynah Rink. His trek to East Hill from Victoria, BC began just six months after he was still reeling from a severe ankle injury. However, his statistics from his freshman season showed little cause for concern. It is likely nonetheless that some lingering effects of the injury might have hampered his off-season development. That possibility alone should make the Lynah Faithful very excited to see what additional skills and vibrancy he will bring to Cornell's barn in just 28 days.
It is axiomatic that the maturation arc between player's freshman and sophomore years is the steepest. When one combines that with the fact that Lowry came off an incomplete season before and possibly a less rigorous off-season before his freshman season at Cornell, the improvement arc for him likely will be very steep. Lowry will become one of the most reliable and key players on a regular basis for the Big Red.
Lowry's poise around the net is seen in the above video as well as in the setup of the goal that he scored against Colorado College in the second of a two-game series that began Cornell's rally to take three-points out of the Tigers. The superb scoring chances that he generated during Red Hot Hockey 2011 are an example of things to come. His hockey sense was also very apparent in the Red's clash against the Quinnipiac Bobcats in January. Cornell managed to rally with two short-handed goals to beat the Bobcats at TD Bank Sports Center. Lowry scored the second of those short-handed goals. He positioned himself spectacularly to receive the pass and slip the puck past Hartzell during an odd-man rush to win the game. It was Lowry's first game-winning goal for the Big Red. We can expect many more.
The misfortune that placed Cornell down one goal during the 2012 NCAA Regional Final did not deter Lowry and his linemates. They dug in and battled passionately. They generated several great opportunities, but with a solid Taylor Nelson in net for the remainder of the game, the Big Red would be denied despite the impressive offense that freshman forward Joel Lowry generated.
His presence within the Kings franchise is already appreciated. His popularity among fans of that SoCal NHL franchise is undeniable. He is one of the few prospects that is referenced commonly by name on Los Angeles Kings fan fora. The Kings fans to their credit, at least in the opinion of WAFT, do a great job to follow and celebrate the accomplishments of their recruits. Lowry's progress in the NCAA post-season was chronicled fairly regularly on Kings News Daily. It is quite refreshing and flattering to Cornell's Los Angeles Kings prospect, Joel Lowry.
Perhaps, you might have heard that the Los Angeles Kings did some winning of note after the 2011-12 NCAA season ended. We hope that there is enough winning left in the franchise that it rubbed off on one of its premier draftees while he visited its development camp over the summer. Cornell has two championships in mind for this season (if a regular-season ECAC title or Ivy-League title is earned in the process of winning the other two, we can accept that). Joel Lowry's penchants for assists makes us think that he'll be plenty of help in getting the Big Red there.