Growing up, the game came easy to Matt Pope. In his mind, there was no question he would achieve his goal of one day playing in the National Hockey League.

“When I was really young, up until I was 12, I was far and above everyone else my age,” he said.

“I always thought I would go to the NHL automatically.”

But as he progressed through the ranks of Langley Minor Hockey, Pope soon began to realize just how hard he had to work.

“I realized the reality every step of the way, only the elite people make it to the next step,” he said.

“And once you get to a certain (level), you can’t just be the best.

“You see so many guys who are so good when they are young but get too used to being good and everyone else starts to catch up (if) they don’t push themselves to excel.”

And now Pope is living every kid’s dream, playing professionally for his hometown team.

This weekend he will be among the players skating at the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp.

Following a stellar year of junior A with the Langley Hornets — he had 27 goals and 44 assists in 60 games — Pope went to the hockey hotbed state of Minnesota, spending four seasons with the Bemidji State University hockey team.

After graduating with a business degree, with an emphasis on advertising and marketing, Pope embarked on his pro career.

First came a job in the ECHL with the Bakersfield Condors, where he was one of the league’s top rookies and the Condors’ top scorers. Pope played the first 54 games of the season with Bakersfield, finding the back of the net 30 times while adding 33 assists. He set a Condors’ record for points by a rookie and was named to the league’s all-star team.

Pope, who finished tied for 20th in league scoring despite not playing a full season in the ECHL, earned himself an American Hockey League tryout contract back in March.

After a week with the Binghamton Senators, the top farm team of the Ottawa Senators, he was cut loose. But he was picked up by another AHL team, the Manitoba Moose, whose parent team is the Canucks.

Pope played a dozen regular season games with the Moose and then another dozen with the team as they made it all the way to the AHL finals, eventually losing the Calder Cup in six games.

He said he learned a lot from that extended playoff run.

“It is physically draining and mentally draining, such a long season,” he said. “It was such a great experience.

“And with that extra dozen (playoff) games, now I feel like I am an AHL player going into Canucks camp rather than an East Coast Hockey League player.”

He played a total of 24 games at the AHL level and managed to put up some decent numbers, scoring seven times and setting up another seven goals.

Pope is under no illusions that he is going to skate his way right onto the Canucks opening day roster.

Getting this far has not been without its challenges.

“It is definitely a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice,” he said. “But it is worth it.”

This past summer has been especially challenging.

Pope has spent much of the off-season recuperating from a hip injury.

“It has definitely been frustrating, there was six weeks where I really didn’t do anything other than therapy and stretching,” he said.

“(But) the way therapy is, it is little tiny muscles in your hips and around there, so it doesn’t feel like you are doing anything.

“It felt like I was sitting there for an hour and didn’t accomplish anything.”

Pope has been working with Jamie Rempel, a physiotherapist at Sportsplex, and been in touch with trainers for both the Canucks and Moose.

“They are just giving me pointers and making sure I am not overdoing it and setting myself back even further,” he said.

“I was doing everything that I could without hurting the injury. Now it feels a lot better but still not 100 per cent and it is just going to kind of maintaining it throughout the season and working on it as much as possible.”

Pope knows he is behind the competition heading into training camp.

“I know the competition for the team is working out for months and at top shape and I am just starting,” he said. “I know last year at this time, I was in great shape and felt great.”

One of his coaches with the Hornets is not surprised how far Pope has made it.

“He was a skilled player who was very tenacious and competed hard,” said Barry Wolff, now the associate coach for the Langley Chiefs.

“It is not a surprise that he is playing where he is playing now. He deserves everything he has gotten.”

Even when Pope was a teenager playing for the Hornets, Wolff said he possessed the necessary skills to succeed.

“I think he always had (the ability); he just needed to put in the time and the effort to get to that level,” Wolff said.

“The guys that are coachable get to that high level because they are always willing to learn.”

Pope is looking forward to Canucks camp.

“When I first signed, I was really nervous,” he admitted. “I didn’t know a lot of people within the Canucks organization.

“(But) when I went to the rookie camp in the middle of the summer, it was really cool, really fun. I met a lot of people there. Now I feel like I am part of the organization.”

It is a pretty special feeling to be a part of the Canucks.

“Just at the gym (the other day), I was wearing my Canucks shorts and there was a kid, he must have been 15 years old, and he asked if I was with the Canucks or training with the Canucks,” Pope said. “I told him (yes) and he was all bright-eyed and wished me luck.”

“It is cool, growing up obviously the Canucks have been my favourite team and signing with them is unbelievable,” he added.

“Hopefully I will be able to play with them too.”

The Canucks did not have Pope skating in this week’s prospects camp. Instead, he will be among the players at the main camp, which runs Sunday until Wednesday.

The team has nine pre-season games before play begins for real on Oct. 1.