By Mark Janzen /
When the Vernon Vipers skated off the ice at Credit Union Place in Dauphin, Man. with their second straight Royal Bank Cup, they solidified two things.
One, the Vipers are the benchmark for Canadian Junior A hockey.
And two, the BCHL is definitely the best Junior A circuit in Canada.
Both of which were already well known facts. It was just this year’s tournament in Dauphin that cemented any qualms of a different sentiment.
So, not surprisingly, once again, it’s the BCHL leading the Junior A parade to this year’s NHL Draft.
And this year’s Grand Marshall is Penticton’s Beau Bennett. The Vees sniper, from Gardena, California, notched 120 points in 56 regular season games.
In typical Californian style, Bennett has the skill and speed to match his surfer-like look. Let’s just say he knows exactly what to do when the puck hits his stick.
The 6-1, 173-pound right winger has climbed the Central Scouting rankings over the course of the season and could well sneak into the first round of this year’s draft. In the mid-term rankings, Bennett was 48th among North American skaters but in their final ranking, Bennett had jumped up to No. 32.
The shifty forward, who was the only non-USHL player to make USA’s roster for the 2009 World Junior A Challenge, is off to the University of Denver this fall but he might not last long.
While Bennett is at the top of his league’s 2010 class, he’s hardly alone when it comes to BC-based prospects. And he’s not even alone on his own team.
Fellow Vees defenceman Luke Curadi (CS rank: 125 among North American skaters) and Isaac Macleod (CS rank: 133) are the next two top-ranked BCHLers according to Central Scouting.
The hulking blueliners have been key cogs on Penticton’s back end all year. While neither of them are going to put up big numbers, their vertical and weigh scale numbers are good enough to garner serious attention.
Curadi, who hails from West Point, NY is 6-5 and weighs 255 pounds (seriously, take one look at his profile photo and you can tell he’s a giant), while Macleod, who is from Nelson, BC, is 6-4 and weighs 205 pounds.
Macleod is off to Boston College in the fall and Curadi will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute but it’s more likely they’ll stick around school for a few years, as opposed to Bennett.
The other BCHL players to watch for at this year’s NHL Draft include Alberni Valley’s Mark MacMillan (CS rank: 135), Westside’s Grayson Downing (CS rank: 144) and Spencer Humphries (CS rank: 172) and Penticton goalie Sean Bonar (CS rank: 21 among North American goalies).
MacMillan might just be the BCHL surprise of the draft. He wasn’t in the midterm rankings but the Alberni Valley forward collected 80 points in 59 games in the much tighter-checking Coastal Conference and then had 14 points in 13 games.
Sure, this year’s crop doesn’t have a Kyle Turris but, there’s little doubt the BCHL is the place to be in Canadian Junior A hockey. |