Brad Crossan has been selected as an assistant coach of Hockey B.C.'s Under-16 provincial team.
Crossan, a 47-year-old Prince George resident, will work with fellow assistant Clint Thornton and head coach Adam Hayduk on a club that will represent B.C. at the Western Branch Challenge, set for late October and early November in Winnipeg. The tournament will feature elite players from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
"I'm pretty excited," Crossan said about his new post. "I think I've put in seven years with high performance in the U-16 and U-17 [programs]. It's going to be a great opportunity to move forward in coaching and work with some really good coaches."
Crossan is a firefighter by trade. But he's passionate enough about hockey that he said he'd welcome the chance to coach at the major midget or junior level if the circumstances were right.
Back in his playing days, Crossan spent one season with the Prince George Spruce Kings and one with Melville of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League. Later, he skated for a couple years in Sweden's First Division.
The roster of the Under-16 team has not yet been named. The players will be chosen from the 200 that attended a B.C. Cup tournament April 28 to May 1 in Kamloops. The next step will be a 68-player provincial camp from June 29 to July 4 in Penticton. From that gathering, 20 will get the nod for Team B.C. duty.
Prince George players who showcased their skills in the B.C. Cup were Jeremy Matte, Liam Blackburn, Scott Cullen, Zachary Schlitt, Lucas Enns, Donovan Law, Thane Anderson, Mathieu Longhurst, Braiden Epp and Gabe Mason.
This is the second consecutive year a Prince George coach has been picked as a Team B.C. assistant at the U-16 level. Brent Arsenault was on the staff of the club that won gold at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax.
In other news, Hockey B.C. has announced that P.G.'s Jason Garneau will once again coach the Prince George Cougars of the Female Midget AAA League. This past season, Garneau helped the Cougars win a first-round playoff series against the Vancouver Fusion. The Cats then met the Thompson-Okanagan Rockets in the semifinals but were eliminated in the maximum three games.
