Hockey Canada preparing for wave of 15-year-old junior hopefuls

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This article was published 06/09/2019 (2559 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The recruiting battles between Canada’s major-junior leagues and the NCAA are a regular part on the hockey landscape but this year’s marquee skirmish — involving centre Matt Savoie — illustrates just how far the Western Hockey League is willing to go in order to ensure the best players stay at home to play.

Savoie, the phenom from St. Albert, Alta., made a verbal commitment to the University of Denver in the spring before being chosen with the first-overall pick by the Winnipeg Ice in the WHL Bantam Draft. Weeks later, after negotiations with the league and Ice resulted in a deal for him to play at least half of Winnipeg’s 68 regular-season games as an underage player, Savoie decided to skip the NCAA and signed a WHL player agreement.

Earlier, Hockey Canada had denied Savoie exceptional status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old. Does that mean the WHL’s manoeuvring should be viewed as a direct challenge to Hockey Canada’s authority?

“I wouldn’t say that at all,” says Richard Doerksen, the WHL’s vice-president of hockey. “I think it’s a very unique situation. It’s the first time in our history we’ve even had a player apply for (exceptional status), so obviously there’s a learning curve anytime you go through these situations and I’m sure there’s going to be more conversations, not only with the Western Hockey League, but with the Canadian Hockey League and Hockey Canada, for future situations that may arise.

“We may have more players in Western Canada and the western United States who apply for this down the road.”

Doerksen admits he’s “heard rumblings” about 14-year-old West Van Academy centre Connor Bedard, the likely No. 1 overall bantam pick next spring, applying for exceptional status and there may be others. The deadline to apply for exceptional status is Dec. 1.

It’s a commonly held belief that Winnipeg’s No. 2 overall pick in 2018 — blue-liner Carson Lambos — could have played regularly in the WHL as a 15-year-old even though his family was content to have him play full time for the Rink Hockey Academy prep squad last season.

In fact, just as the NHL has experienced a significant uptick recently in the number of 18-year-olds capable of thriving in the bigs, you can make a credible argument that elite 15-year-olds are better prepared to succeed than ever before when playing against teams stocked with 16- to 20-year-olds.

“I think if you look back over the years, we would’ve had a number of players who could have played more games,” says Doerksen. “We have a number of players that play a fair number of games at 15 in our league (on an injury or emergency basis).”

WHL teams have been very successful in their recent recruiting, signing every first-round bantam pick in the 2017 and 2018 draft classes while also locking up 20 of the 22 first-rounders from 2019.

The league’s next major move could involve its recruitment of American prospects, with the likely introduction of a separate U.S. bantam draft, perhaps as early as next spring.

American prospects are currently part of the general pool of players eligible for the draft and are often chosen in the later rounds because of a preference for U.S. college hockey. Under the proposed system, top U.S. prospects would be given prominence in a two-round draft that would better reflect their abilities.

PHANTOM PRESENCE: Centre Reilly Funk made the gut-wrenching decision to leave his hometown in the off-season for the United States Hockey League.

Funk, who turns 19 on Dec. 23, scored 53 points in 51 regular-season games to help the Portage Terriers to a Manitoba Junior Hockey League title and berth in the national junior A tournament. His decision to join the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms was intended to generate scholarship offers from NCAA schools.

After being chosen in the sixth round of the USHL Draft, Reilly followed the recent examples of forward Reise Gaber and goaltender Matthew Thiessen, a pair of Steinbach Pistons who left the MJHL for better opportunities with the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

“It’s kind of known as the best Tier 1 to go to college and that’s the goal, right? — to get a Division I scholarship and this gives me the best opportunity to do so,” says Funk. “I talked to schools during the year last year.. they didn’t ever say it — but you see how so many guys come in out of the USHL compared to the MJHL or the SJHL. It’s doable out of the MJHL, just a lot harder and I thought I’d give myself the best opportunity to do so.”

Leaving the Terriers, who are the No. 1-ranked team in this week’s national pre-season junior A poll, wasn’t easy. Portage is hosting the national championship tournament next spring and breaking the news to head coach Blake Spiller wasn’t easy.

“He was sad, because obviously we were hosting the national championship and he wanted me there,” adds Funk, whose MJHL rights were subsequently dealt along with overage goalie Ethan Peterson and futures to Neepawa for centre Mackenzie Belinski, the club’s top scorer in 2018-19. “But things come in the way and things present themselves. Sometimes you just have to go for it.”

So far, Funk says he’s enjoying the move from Manitoba to Ohio. The Phantoms spend a lot of time on the road and this season’s longest trip involves an 18-hour bus ride to Fargo in March for a doubleheader with the Force.

GOALIE EVALUATION? Illness and injuries are making it difficult for Ice head coach James Patrick to get a handle on his goaltending situation.

Veteran Jesse Makaj, 18, who finished last season as the club’s No. 1 man, is still not in camp due to an unspecified ailment, while Duncan McGovern, a 19-year-old veteran, and rookie Gage Alexander, 17, are both out one to two weeks with upper-body injuries.

That leaves 16-year-old Will Gurski to get the majority of the work for the club’s two pre-season games in Brandon and Portage la Prairie this weekend. Daniel Hauser, 15, will serve as his backup until McGovern and Alexander are fit.

“We don’t expect it to be long term but we don’t expect (Makaj) to be ready to start the season,” says Ice GM Matt Cockell.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14