The most startling, if not downright realistically refreshing, thing about the Western Hockey League website’s own bantam draft page is that it doesn’t list players from the past who were drafted, but makes a point of listing those who weren’t.
That impressive compilation of the overlooked includes Joffrey Lupul, Shea Weber, Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan, Tyler Ennis and Dan Hamhuis. You could throw in any number of others not mentioned, including Olympic gold-medallist and NHL scoring champion Jamie Benn from Victoria.
In other words, even the league is telling kids not to sweat it when the annual WHL bantam draft is held Thursday at the Deerfoot Inn in Calgary. At 15 years old, it may be too early to tell the complete story of where a career is headed. There will be plenty of chances later, as well, to be noticed by WHL clubs and invited to training camps. The sports world is full of later-bloomers.
So it is with a jumble of emotions that elite Island 15-year-olds approach Thursday’s draft. Chief among them are players from the Victoria Racquet Club Kings. As would be expected from a team that placed second only to North Shore Winter Club in the B.C. bantam triple A championship, the Kings’ roster is brimming with potential draftees for Thursday. They include forwards Keaton Mastrodonato, Quinton Waitzner, Joe Stafford-Veale, Ted Brennan, defenceman Brett Humberstone and goaltender Keenan Rancier.
“It was a very successful season with a special group of kids,” said Kings head coach Brent Polischuk.
And they attracted plenty of curiosity.
“WHL scouts have been around this season expressing interest in several of the players, but they keep that close to their vest . . . it’s very shrouded [as to their draft intentions].”
All will all be revealed Thursday. The Victoria Royals have the 13th overall selection.
“It’s an exciting time for the kids and the parents . . . there’s a lot of speculation and kicking it around . . . a lot of the kids have talked to teams but every [WHL] club keeps its [options secret],” said Scott Stafford-Veale, father of Kings forward Joe Stafford-Veale.
“It’s a fun time but it’s a bit of a crapshoot. You take it a little bit with a grain of salt.”
The Kings really came to the attention of WHL scouts in December when they won their own Rick Lapointe bantam tournament for the first time in 14 years. The tournament was organized by Stafford-Veale and Jeff Kerr, and attracted a flotilla of WHL scouts. Racquet Club continued its finest season in more than a decade. The only triple-A bantam team better in the province this season was North Shore, which also went on to win the Western Canadian championship, led by likely 2015 WHL bantam first-round picks Luka Burzan and Jackson Leppard.
“North Shore could actually end up with three or four of its players selected in the first round,” noted Polischuk.
Perhaps the top prospect for the 2015 WHL bantam draft is defenceman Ty Smith from Delta.
The top from the Island could also come from the blueline with six-foot-five Kyle Pow from Nanaimo, a rearguard in the mould of six-foot-three 2013 overall No. 3 pick Josh Anderson from Duncan, a Canada U-17 player with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL.
Also touted from the Island is forward Lach Hadley of Victoria, who played bantam for Delta Hockey Academy.
The biggest prize from the Island, however, will be next year with Racquet Club Kings 14-year-old blue-liner Jacson Alexander, already billed as a potential first-round pick for 2016.
“[Alexander] is special and might be the best defenceman out of the Island for the WHL draft since Tyson Barrie [now in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche],” said Polischuk.
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