MONTREAL — Canadiens fans won’t have to look far to find a rooting interest in this year’s Memorial Cup tournament.

The Saskatoon Blades are the host team for the junior showdown and veteran coach Lorne Molleken’s roster includes two Montreal defence prospects —Darren Dietz and Dalton Thrower.

The Canadiens signed Dietz to a three-year, entry-level contract this week and Molleken — whose resumé includes a stint as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks — says the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder will be in the National Hockey League “sooner rather than later.”

That forecast appears realistic when you hear Molleken describe Dietz as a hard-working, self-motivated player, the kind of player who fits in with the current mindset in the Canadiens organization.

“He approaches the game like a pro,” Molleken said. “He’s the first guy on the ice and the last guy to leave. He works extremely hard, he doesn’t need anyone to push him.”

Dietz, who was selected by the Canadiens in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL entry draft, said part of his motivation stems from the fact he has been undervalued.

“I wasn’t selected in the WHL bantam draft and I was a late-round pick in the NHL draft, and I thank I use that as fuel to work harder,” Dietz said.

Molleken said he first looked at Dietz on a recommendation from Rich Sutter of the famous Viking, Alta., Sutter family.

“Richie’s son, Lukas, was coming to play for us and he and Darren had played some minor hockey and gone to some camps together,” Molleken said. “We brought him in as a 15-year-old and he wasn’t ready. We put him on our list as a 16-year-old and he played an exhibition game and we wanted to keep him, but he wanted to go back to play another season of midget Triple-A in Lethbridge and that proved to be the right decision for his growth and development.”

If you look at Dietz’s numbers, it’s easy to categorize him as an offensive defenceman. In 72 games this season, he has 24 goals and 34 assists, but Molleken said it’s wrong to put a tag on the defenceman.

“The points are a bonus,” Molleken said. “He plays at both ends of the ice. We use him against the other team’s top line and he quarterbacks the power play. He plays a physical game; he’s tough and he’s mean.”

Dietz said he’s improved in every area of his game in Saskatoon and he hopes to continue improving.

“The one area where I never stop working is my skating,” he said. “The way the game is played today, you can’t play anywhere unless you can skate.”

Thrower was considered a steal when the Canadiens grabbed him in the second round (51st overall) of last June’s entry draft and what he hopes is his final junior season has been marred by injuries.

“He had a tremendous second half,” Molleken said. “It was a hit-or-miss season for him because he was injured coming into training camp. He had a slow start after he missed all of camp and the exhibition games, and then he got hurt again and he missed another month.”

The second injury was a concussion, and Thrower said the recovery was difficult.

“When I heard the word concussion I was scared,” Thrower said. “It was tough being out of the lineup and the symptoms weren’t going away. I just followed the doctor’s orders and got plenty of rest and eventually I was able to come back.

“When you come back, you’re not sure whether you’re going to be able to play the same game and you worry what will happen when you hit someone,” Thrower added. “But I managed to get 50 games in and now I’m healthy and ready for the playoffs.”

For the record, Thrower appeared in 54 games, scored eight goals and added 21 assists while posting a plus-18.

Thrower is 6-feet and 195 pounds and said his goal is to add about 15 pounds of muscle.

“I play a physical game and I know that I have to get stronger to play at the next level,” he said.

Thrower could return to Saskatoon next season as a 20-year-old, but he’s hoping the Canadiens find room for him with the American Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs. When asked about his status with the Montreal organization, Thrower said it was “to be determined.”

The Blades finished with the second-best record in the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference and open the playoffs Thursday against the seventh-seeded Medicine Hat Tigers.

“It’s been an interesting year,” Molleken said. “When we were awarded the Memorial Cup, we knew we had to make some changes. We didn’t want to be there just because we were the hosts. We made 13 trades since May. It was more than we wanted to do, but we made a commitment to the league.”

Molleken said the changes presented a challenge in terms of chemistry, but things fell into place after the Jan. 10 trading deadline.

“At Christmas we were battling for a playoff spot, but we never wavered from the plan,” Molleken said. “We had some adversity, but the players worked through it.”

And they worked through it in a very public manner. As part of its junior hockey coverage, Sportsnet followed the Blades for a series of 24/7-type documentaries.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but after a while it was like they were part of the team,” said Molleken, whose team won’t be intimidated by the TV cameras when the Memorial Cup rolls around in May.

phickey@montrealgazette.com

Twitter: @zababes1