The Quality Foods Oceanside Generals have six players selected for the 2018 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League Prospects Game.
They will be among the league’s 42 rising young stars who will play at Campbell River’s Rod Brind’Amour Arena on Jan. 7 for a North vs. South showdown.
The five Generals named to the Prospects North squad are forwards Landon Dziadyk and Greyson Weme, defenseman Erik Hanus and goalkeepers Jacob Sweet and Spencer Deakin, who was acquired from the Campbell River Storm just recently. Deakin is the Generals’ new back-up goalie, taking over for Aaron Jakubowski, who was traded to Sicamous. The sixth General named to the Prospects squad is defenseman Logan Archer as an alternate player.
The rest of the Prospects North squad are forwards Dawson Frank, Booker Chacalias, Pearce Messer, Kyle Kaufmann, Luc Wilson, Brett Kinley, Finn Withey, Jalen Price, Ryan Butler and Noah Kelly, defensemen Dylan Hartl, Logan Cursley, Aiden Sutherland, Timon Prexler and Mauro D’Alessandro, and goaltender Derek Krall.
“It’s a truly special experience for the players assembled from across the VIJHL, who have the opportunity to showcase their skills before hundreds of the passionate hockey fans in Campbell River and the scouting staff in attendance,” VIJHL president Barb Byrne said while announcing the lineups.
Named to the Prospects South team are forwards Darwin Lakoduk, Josh Lingard, Marshall Brown, Keegan Durrance, Mateo Albinati, Tanner Wort, Zack Guerra, Braydon Nelson, Matt Lawrence, Brandon McClintick, Matthew Sparrow and Riley Braun, defensemen Alexander Benger, Shota Yamamoto, Skyler Diamond-Burchuk, Thomas Spink, Evan Abgrall and Tory McClintick, and goaltenders Nate Reinhart, Luke Sheldrake and Bryce Schiebel.
According to Byrne, “Best-on-best competition is a valuable way to evaluate talent.”
All nine member clubs will be represented at the Prospect Game with Campbell River and Peninsula each boasting nine of their players to the two rosters.
Five alternate players (two forwards, two defensemen, one goalie) were also announced for each division. Forwards Ethan Schmunk (A1) and Cody Savey (A2) for the North and Carson Cox (A1) and Andy Westhaver (A2) for the South. Backliner Reid Lindsay (A1) and Logan Archer (A2) are alternates for Prospects North while Jake Wilhelm (A1) and Lukas Yesaki (A2) are alternates for Prospects South. Between the pipes, Blake Wood in the North and Chris Akerman in the South are the alternates.
The selection process involved all nine VIJHL clubs, who each nominated players born between 1999 and 2001. Those submissions were reviewed by a five-person selection committee which had the challenging task of narrowing each roster down to twelve forwards, six defensemen and three goalies.
The coaching staff for the two teams will be assigned by Christmas, the league stated in a written release.
The 2018 VIJHL Prospects Game will be broadcast live on HockeyTV as the free VIJHL Game of the Week (https://vijhl.hockeytv.com).
— With files from VIJHL