Vancouver Canucks fans can watch one of their team’s prospects in action Sunday night as Prab Rai and the struggling Seattle Thunderbirds pay the Chilliwack Bruins a visit.

The game, at Prospera Centre, starts at 7 p.m.

Rai was a fifth round pick of the National Hockey League Canucks at last June’s entry draft, and wasted little time diving head first into professional hockey life.

“It was a very good experience, training with members of the team all summer,” the Surrey native said. “I was at General Motors Place doing workouts with Willie Mitchell and Kyle Wellwood and Michael Grabner. We were on the ice at least twice a week and I learned a lot about what I need to do to succeed at that level.”

The first lesson learned?

Absolutely no loafing.

Rai watched Mitchell go through his off-season training regimen and was awestruck by how focussed the veteran of 457 NHL games was.

“Every day they push themselves to the limit,” Rai said. “They don’t do anything at half speed. Every rep on the weight machines is done as well as they can. Everything is 100 per cent. They’re talking to the trainers about diets and hydrating. Everything they did was so professional.”

Rai came into the summer believing he had a good work ethic, and he sticks by that.

But now he knows there’s another level he has to reach to eventually factor into the Canucks’ on-ice plans.

Rai felt good once he got onto the ice with the team’s prospects, skating alongside Grabner and guys like Yann Sauve (Saint John), Taylor Ellington (Everett) and Cody Hodgson (Brampton).

“Obviously, when you first get out there, there’s nerves and stuff,” Rai conceded. “But once I got a practice or two out of the way, I thought I did really well. I think I surprised them with my puck skills and my finish around the net. That’s what they were talking about at my exit meetings, and I was happy to hear it.”

Of course, there remains plenty to work on.

Rai’s got a few things he’s thinking about as he starts his fourth season in the Western Hockey League.

“For me, the thing is to become a grittier guy to play against,” Rai said, analyzing his game. “I want to be stronger on the puck, harder to knock off the puck. I think that’s the key for me. I went into training camp focusing on that, and they saw improvment.”

Rai’s selection was a bit of an ‘off the board’ thing.

He thought he might be selected, but he didn’t expect to be picked as high as he was.

Now, he’s working to justify the faith of the Canucks’ scouts.

“On draft day, you know anything can happen,” Rai said. “I had a slow start last season and a lot of people didn’t know who I was. I wasn’t ranked by Central Scouting. But I picked it up in the second half and showed people I was worthy of being drafted.”

Unfortunately, Rai is off to another slow start with Seattle, posting just two goals and no assists through six games.

He’s hardly alone.

The T-Birds have been one of the league’s most disappointing teams in the early going, posting a dismal record of 1-5-1-1 through Wednesday.

Only Portland has scored fewer than Seattle’s 13 goals and only Kamloops has surrendered more than Seattle’s 31 goals.

The return of top defenceman Thomas Hickey from the Los Angeles Kings should help, but clearly the T-Birds have to clean up several things in their game.

“We took a huge blow in Vancouver last week, losing 10-2,” Rai noted. “We’re not sticking to our game plan, but we saw a glimpse of what we can be when we beat Spokane (3-2 in a shootout). We don’t realize yet how good we can be.”

Chilliwack and Seattle have met eight times over the last two seasons, with the Thunderbirds holding a 4-2 edge in the series.

Chilliwack won both matches on home ice last year, beating the T-Birds 6-2 on Oct. 17 and 5-2 on Jan. 16.

Oscar Moller had three goals in the 6-2 win, igniting a scoring streak that saw him score goals in nine straight games.

Moller lit the lamp 17 times over that span.

Catch a game wrapup in the Tuesday edition of the Chilliwack Progress sports section.