Rookie Talk: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Jack Beck
On a morning after practice, during a recall from the Wheeling Nailers to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Jack Beck sat down with Olde City Sports Network to talk junior hockey, how he got his start in hockey, and more!
22-year-old Beck, Richmond Hill, Ontario native, played in the OHL for five years for the Ottawa 67’s and Soo Greyhounds. During his tenure in the OHL, Beck dressed in 204 games between Ottawa and the Greyhounds and tallied 68 goals with 133 assists. “I think a big thing about major junior is the amount of games you play and the schedule. For example, in pro, you can work out during the week and then play, but you always get like a Wednesday game and it’s kind of the same thing in Juniors. Kind of gets your legs and your cardio ready for that. I think the difference in colleges, they have to work out a lot more, which is a benefit but playing less games, it's definitely a lot different. There's so much skill in the OHL. It's a very skilled game, even all major juniors so I think that helped a lot for the transition moving onto pro.”
During the last three seasons of Beck’s OHL career, he assisted Ottawa 67’s and the Soo Greyhounds in their postseason runs. He played in 15 games for the 67’s and notched eight goals and eight assists in 15 games. He dressed in four postseason games for the Greyhounds and tallied an even two goals and assists. Beck touched on what he brought for the Wheeling Nailers during the five postseason games played: “I'm just gonna try and play my game. Whatever the team needs me to do to contribute, I'm gonna try and do it. If that's blocking a shot, moving up the line up, moving down the line up. Wherever I'm gonna be, that's what I'm gonna do, so just it's the best time of year, so usually everyone gets a little more a little more giddy and you don't wanna say you play harder, but it almost feels like everyone just raises their intensity a little bit.”
Beck was signed to an AHL contract for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in June of 2024. Signing the first professional contract is a dream for every player. "Just so cool. I mean, all the hard work you do. I’ve been playing hockey since I was three years old. My oldest brother played hockey, my middle brother just signed an NHL deal, so just to be beside him and kind of go up whole way up and even just watch my older brother when I was younger, it's just the love for the game grows and the fact you get to move on to pro and move up and the ranks of hockey. It's pretty cool. I mean, a lot of people would beg to be in our position, so you gotta be pretty fortunate to be at a higher level at what you love to do every day.” Beck's brother, Noah, was recently signed to an NHL contract with the San Jose Sharks. Beck has also recently been re-signed to a AHL contract for the 2025-2026 season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Beck played a majority of his season with the Wheeling Nailers, ECHL affiliate of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Pittsburgh Penguins. He earned a few recalls to Wilkes-Barre, but touched on what Wheeling served for him as a player. “It was so beneficial for me. It made me learn the game as the player I am, as a skilled forward. I like to use my vision and IQ and I think just playing in Wheeling off the start, Arms [Head Coach Derek Army] , he’s the best. He kind of let us play how we wanted to play and learn the game as I did. Playing the game in junior, I think gave me so much confidence when I came up here to trust your abilities and know that you're good. I mean you're here for a reason right now and showcase your ability because this is the league you wanna move up to and after that you wanna try and move up to the NHL.”
When players start to play hockey, most start at a very young age, for Beck, it was the same. Being in a hockey family often influences players, and for Beck, it worked out in his favor. “I went to skating lessons and Mike Gartner, like one of the best skaters of all time, was the person running it. I actually sat in the middle of the ice crying my eyes off until my dad would come on the ice and he wasn't allowed. So we ended up getting the receipt back for paying for the whole thing and I didn't end up going. My parents built a backyard rink and like I said, having two older brothers that played hockey, my dad always played hockey growing up before he quit for tennis and just being around my brothers, they almost bullied me into being on the ice with them, so I got to learn on the backyard rink and I was out there every single night before with my brothers and acting like we were in the NHL and the rest is history.”
Being in pressure situations on the ice happens in every game and players have to make quick decisions that could ultimately play into the win or the loss. “I mean, there is the saying that pressure's a privilege. So, I think if you have pressure, that means you're a guy that can contribute or a guy that can help the team. I always think pressure almost makes you happier, it makes you excited, so I don’t look at pressure too much. I just play my game and I know results will come for our team and that's all I care about. If we win at the end of the day, like that's all that makes me happy. The pressure almost makes me a little more excited. It's like that intensity to raise is a little bit more”
Communicating with linemates is important in today’s game because players have to know where each other are at all times in order to make plays and pass the puck if there is a prime opportunity. “In Wheeling, I've pretty much played with Kyle Jackson and Matty De St. Phalle the whole time. I mean, we're all so close. I mean, we're all young in age and we're called like the kid line and we spend so much time together outside of the rink and in the rink. So if you love a guy off the ice you’re gonna have great chemistry on the ice. So we talk a ton off the ice and on the ice. I mean, we all just wanna have fun out there. Our skill sets all really compliment each other. Jackson is a really good goal scorer. DSP kind of has a mix of everything and then I like trying to be a passer, so, I mean, it's been working for us pretty well, so it's nice to get good chemistry and also stay with a line the whole year that I've been there.”
Beck, unfortunately, suffered an injury in the course of the 2024-2025 season that kept him out of the lineup for slightly over 30 games. Working back from an injury is never easy for a player, but Beck took it in stride. “Just a super unfortunate unlucky injury, but our trainer, Mark Gatos, he's world class. I mean, the work he put in with me was unbelievable. It honestly is the best I've ever felt coming back from an injury, cardio wise, didn't feel like my legs were out of it or anything. Your injury is gonna bug you a little bit, but if you're not playing with a little bit of injury, I mean are you really a hockey player sort of thing? Everyone is always battling something. So, he prepared me so well and Arms [Head Coach Derek Army] always had me come into the rink being around the guys, which just makes me so much more positive if you're battling with an injury by yourself, it gets pretty lonely, it gets really really annoying, like just not being out there to do what you love and it really makes you grateful for coming to the rink every day and even on the days when you might be a little tired and you're like, oh, tougher to wake up for it. When you're injured, it just shows you how much you really love the game.”
Every player has different aspects that they enjoy about the position they play whether it be forward, defense, or goaltending. Beck touches on what he likes about being a forward and threw in a fact about growing up in the game. “I actually grew up playing defense for the first six years of my life, so I learned the game back there and then being a forward, I just feel like you're in on the play a lot more. You get to contribute to your skill more. I think the best thing in hockey is to send up a guy for a backdoor tapper, an open net or something like that. So that's always been how I wanted to play and I think just like almost rewarding my line mates and trying to make them better is like something that makes me so happy”
Beck played in 36 games this season for the Wheeling Nailers. He tallied eight goals and 28 assists. He assisted in the postseason run in all five games and notched an even one goal and assist. Beck dressed in four games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, notching one goal and two assists. Beck returns to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an AHL contract for the 2025-2026 season.
- Samantha Wismer/Olde City Sports Network
- Photo Credit: Stacey Gramlich/Olde City Sports Network
