Cochrane hockey phenom Dillon Dubé is multi-tasking at the next level.

In his first full season with the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Kelowna Rockets, he’s joining Team Canada’s under-17-year-old (U17) White team for the World U17 Hockey Challenge from Oct. 31 to Nov. 8 in Sarnia and Lambton, Ont.

The 16-year-old Cochrane Minor Hockey product, who played for Notre Dame Midget AAA Hockey Hounds last season in Saskatchewan, is in Kelowna now, where he is currently nursing a lower-body injury suffered in a recent practice.

While Rockets head coach Dan Lambert hasn’t had his prodigious forward over the boards this season, he’s looking forward to Dubé’s return to playing health within the week.

“We feel even though he’s 16, and we understand that 16 year olds have their growing pains, we certainly expect him to be able to play some minutes for us, and some valuable minutes as well,” Lambert said.

“The one thing I love about Dillon is his competitiveness,” Lambert said. “He’s got fire in his belly, he plays with passion, and he’s got a strong skill set to go along with his great skating abilities.”

All these tools have Dubé on a steep, upward trajectory, as he is one of 66 players chosen for three Canadian teams that will be playing against squads from the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland and Slovakia.

“It’s an honour,” Dubé said of wearing Canada’s national hockey sweater for the first time in his young career. “I was lucky enough they took me because with my injury they (Team Canada) hadn’t seen me play in the Western League yet.”

“Coach Lambert had quite a bit of input on that too, so it helped me out a lot,” he added.

He did enough at the August national U17 development camp in Calgary to put himself in the position to earn a Team Canada sweater.

“I was pretty happy when I got the news (on Oct. 1),” Dubés said. “It was so surreal when I found out and it’s a dream of mine to wear that jersey.”