One wears No. 11 and the other No. 12, and that’s about as different as the Campbell brothers are going to get.
They were born just 15 months apart but Charles Campbell and younger brother Alex will tell you they’ve been pretty much inseparable growing up, and when the puck drops on the Victoria Grizzlies’ 2018-19 B.C. Hockey League season on Sept. 8, odds are they’ll be on the same line ready to continue the offensive prowess they’ve shown growing up in the suburbs of Montreal.
“Because we’re one year apart, we were on the same team every second year growing up and, yah, we were able to have some fun and score a lot of points,” 18-year-old Charles Campbell said Monday, just before the Grizzlies kicked off training camp at Juan de Fuca Arena.
Because the Quebec high school system ends after Grade 11, the brothers were able to play together again at Stanstead College prep school last season and Charles put up 63 points in 52 games, while 17-year-old Alex poured in 74 in 50 games.
“We had some pretty good chemistry last season and this will be our fifth time playing together so hopefully we can keep that going with the Grizzlies,” said Charles, who’s the winger in the family, while Alex plays centre.
The Campbell brothers got word of a pretty good junior A team in B.C.’s capital by way of their Montreal-based adviser, who also works with fellow Grizzlies newcomer and Montreal native Jeremy Bucheler.
And while Alex just committed to further his hockey career in the NCAA with Clarkson University in 2020, Charles is still sifting through NCAA options and knew the BCHL would help that process along.
“We asked around and we knew this league has a great reputation of producing great NCAA players so we actually came out last spring and scouted out Victoria,” Charles said.
“We fell in love with the city and all the things that there is to do here with the ocean right here and everything.
“Unfortunately, we came out right after they had been eliminated in the second round so not everyone was in a very good mood.”
That mood is likely to be lot better this fall as the Grizzlies are expected to be one the of the stronger teams in the BCHL, with the likes of captain Alex Newhook projected for the first round of the 2019 NHL draft and fellow forward Riley Hughes selected in the seventh round of last summer’s NHL draft by the New York Rangers and committed to Northeastern University in Boston for the fall of 2019.
Grizzlies GM and head coach Craig Didmon expects the Campbell brothers to play a big role among his talented group of forwards.
“They’re highly skilled and creative hockey players, so we’re excited to see what they can do in this league and for us,” said Didmon.
“They’re familiar with each other so I think we’ll definitely try to start them out on the same line and that should help with their comfort level as well at the start.”
At 17, Alex Campbell is drawing NHL interest for next year’s draft, and in 2017 the 5-foot-10, 154-pounder was selected by the Shawinigan Cataractes in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League entry draft.
“I was really interested in playing college hockey in the U.S. so the BCHL seem like a perfect fit for me,” said Alex, who’ll take some Grade 12 courses at Belmont Secondary starting next month.
“And I just want to focus on helping the Grizzlies have a good season and let the other stuff [NHL draft] take care of itself. It looks like a real good team here this year so hopefully I can fit in and really help the team out.”
The Grizzlies will hold more training camp sessions today and Wednesday leading to Thursday night’s annual intra-squad game at 7 p.m. at Juan de Fuca Arena.
Victoria then opens the preseason on Friday when they head to Nanaimo for the first of a home-and-home set with the Clippers. The return game goes Saturday at 5 p.m. at Juan de Fuca Arena.
