Where To Play?

Taking the next step in your young hockey career has many choices, but not all are as important as if it is the right choice for you career down the road.

Picking to play at a Winter Club or an Academy, can be costly to the Family and right or wrong it’s a choice you have to look long and hard at – your career depends on it!!

The WHL draft of 14 year old bantam players is vital to the success of the league, it’s teams and the future of Canada’s National Winter Sport.

In total of 34 players (half of the 62 BC players drafted) played either at the two Academies or the two Lower Mainland Winter Clubs.

Penticton’s Okanagan Hockey Academy placed a total of 12 players, including five first rounder picks, while the Pursuit of Excellence in Kelowna saw four selected in the second round, including nine overall, four players who are imports from out of province.

North Shore Winter Club placed three in the top five with a total of seven picks overall and it should be noted that six of the players joined the club in their second peewee year, from Hollyburn, Merritt, Duncan, Kitimat, North Van Minor and Vancouver Spirit; and all played on the club’s Bantam A1 team this past season

They were Provincial Champs, finishing second overall at the Westerns last year and this year won the Westerns, that saw Burnaby Winter Club place six players, two of which were in the second round.

BWC were PCAHA league champions, beating NSWC by a goal to take the banner in the final; but were on the opposite end of the result at the Provincials.

The exception to the Rule of the Academies and Winter Clubs is Kamloops, who posted the best record for a community based association, with eight picks, while Cowichan Valley placed three.

Kelowna felt the impact of its players joining Academies and placed two as well as Langley and Hollyburn, which shows the amount of talent at these locations.

Nine other community associations had at least one player drafted.