It may not have been the place he expected to move one step closer to his dream, but Shane Harper will take it.

On March 1, in the business center of a hotel in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, Harper signed a three-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms.

It puts Harper one big step closer to his goal of playing in the National Hockey League.

“It’s pretty wild,” Harper said. “It’s still almost doesn’t feel real.”

The signing was confirmed in a press release on the Flyers’ official Web site Thursday.

The former high school standout at Ice Station Valencia will finish out the season with the Everett Silvertips, which are currently tied for first place in the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League with four games remaining.

In his four years with the Silvertips, Harper has scored 98 goals with 112 assists.

His career-goal total ranks No. 1 all-time in the organization, as do the 40 single-season goals he has scored so far this year.

Once the season is over, he will most likely join the Phantoms, Harper said.

“One of the things you hope all kids have, and not all of them do, is just talent and ability,” said Mark Greig, one three amateur scouts in Canada for the Flyers. “Shane’s obviously got some gifts. He’s a very talented kid with the puck and an exceptional skater. He also has the ability to beat people one-on-one, and he has the touch around the net. Those are the things when you get a young athlete that you cannot make them better at. You either have that or you don’t.”

Among the terms of the deal was a $180,000 signing bonus over three years, according to Harper.

This season, Harper said he got the most attention of his career from potential NHL suitors, but his future was still a mystery.

“I honestly did not know what was going to happen,” Harper said. “I knew I had to keep playing hard.”

For his family, the news of the deal came with equal shock.

“I was kind of in a daze,” said his father, Mike Harper. “My wife always believed that my son would get to that point. I was little more pragmatic. I thought he was a college kid and would play out his career that way. This caught me by surprise.”

The WHL is part of the Canadian Hockey League, but its teams are not directly affiliated with the NHL. The AHL is a minor-league system that acts as a sort of farm system for burgeoning NHL talent. 

As for Harper’s take?

He’s taking it all day by day.

“Right now, I’m just focused on the next step, which would be that I make sure to make the AHL team and do the best at that,” Harper said. “Obviously, I want to play in the NHL. That is my dream, but I don’t want to think too far ahead right now.”