A weekend of showcasing their stick and puck skills moved eight local players to the next stage of B.C. Hockey's Under-17 high performance program.
At a north district camp, held at the Elksentre, Chase Witala, Raymond Grewal, Josh Connolly, Brett Harris, Eli Jarvis, Jake LeBrun, Duncan Elliot and goaltender Nathan Warren were among 20 players selected to attend the age group's B.C. Cup tournament, May 12-15 in Salmon Arm. The jamboree-style B.C. Cup will bring together the top 120 players in the province, and 23 of them will move on to a regional camp. That camp will also feature the top 23 talents from Alberta and will be used to determine Team Pacific for the World Under-17 Challenge.
Witala, Grewal, Connolly, Harris and Jarvis were all members of the Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars this past Major Midget League season. LeBrun also saw time with the Cats but spent most of the year with the Coast Inn of the North midget Tier 1 Cougars. Elliot and Warren also played for the Tier 1 Cats.
North district head coach Trevor Sprague, who also guides the Cariboo club, was most impressed by Witala, a forward who is a draft pick of the Western Hockey League's Prince George Cougars.
"Chase Witala was the best player on the ice," Sprague said. "It was nice to see him really coming into being the player that he is. He was ahead of everybody there.
And that goes for the five guys that played major midget," Sprague added. "They showed they can play and what our league actually does to develop players to move on to the Western Hockey League."
LeBrun, who went undrafted as a bantam, was another dominant performer at the weekend gathering. As a prototypical power forward, he used his size, strength and blistering shot to full advantage. But, the part of LeBrun's game that really caught Sprague's attention was his skating.
"He played with a lot of confidence," Sprague said. "I think that had to do a lot with the fact he's been working on his skating quite a bit in the last year. It was a good surprise to see him come in there and play with the confidence that he did.
"If he plays with [the Cariboo Cougars] next season, I would say he'd be a kid that should be listed on a Western Hockey League team probably before Christmas."
