Halifax is the East Coast book-end city to which Greater Victoria is often compared among mid-size Canadian markets.
“I saw so many similarities when I came here because this is also a coastal city, although we don’t have the mountains in the background,” said Victoria Grizzlies player Malcolm Green, who hails from Bedford, N.S., in the Halifax metro area.
The six-foot-six, 215 pound forward, who has seven goals and 18 points in 47 games, has parlayed his rookie season in the B.C. Hockey League into an NCAA Div. 1 commitment in the Ivy League with Princeton University.
“They flew me out two weeks ago and it was such a cool campus with the old buildings,” said Green, 18.
“They said with my size and hockey IQ, they believe they can turn me into a high-level college player.”
Ranvir Gill-Shane, a six-foot-three defenceman with a goal and three points in 16 games for the Grizzlies after beginning the BCHL season with 11 assists in 28 games for the Merritt Centennials, is ineligible for the NCAA because the native of Ottawa played three seasons in the major-junior OHL with his hometown 67s and also in Hamilton with the Bulldogs.
But Gill-Shane, 20, committed this month to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues in U Sports.
Green and Gill-Shane brought to 16 the number of Grizzlies players committed to university teams, which has set a new club record. The others, all headed to NCAA Div. 1, are Oliver Auyeung-Ashton and Olie Genest to Colgate, Richard Baran to Arizona State, Tim Busconi to Dartmouth, Anthony Carone to Holy Cross, Charlie Gollob to Brown, Luc Pelletier to Princeton, Reegan Hiscock to Northeastern, Jacksenn Hungle to Canisius, Nathan King to Merrimack, Chase Pirtle to Cornell, Tobias Pitka to Boston College, Tyler Waram to Alaska-Fairbanks and Elliot Dutil to Lindenwood.
“That’s why I came here,” said Green, who played last season in Grade 12 at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts.
“The BCHL is the best place from which to get in to NCAA Div. 1. I’ve improved a lot since the season started. There are no bad players in this league. You have to bring it every night.”
You also have to be a star in the classroom to get into Princeton. Green, whose parents are both engineers, is also that with a perfect 4.0 GPA. He plans to be a quick study on the ice, as well, at Princeton after another season with the Grizzlies upcoming in 2024-25.
“I’m a big, 200-foot forward that you can put on the ice in any situation,” said Green.
“Pro hockey is the dream and I hope Princeton can help get me there.”
Gill-Shane describes himself as a “stout defensive defenceman” and is the anomaly among Grizzlies players committed to university teams because NCAA rules prohibit players who have played major-junior hockey.
“U Sports often gets overshadowed by the NCAA but people don’t realize that not all NCAA hockey scholarships are 100 per cent, while you get a year of post-secondary education paid for every season you played in the CHL [OHL, WHL, QMJHL], so that makes U Sports a great destination with tremendous hockey because almost every player is from the CHL,” said Gill-Shane.
“In terms of academics, U of T is one of the top schools in Canada,” added Gill-Shane, who will study kinesiology.
The Coastal Conference fifth-place Grizzlies (26-21-1) are in South Surrey tonight to play the Coastal and BCHL-leading Eagles (39-7-2) and in Langley on Saturday night to play the Coastal seventh-place Rivermen (17-27-5).
“We have it all as a team but we have been teeter-totter, win one and lose one, and we just need to click more regularly over our last six games and that will shape us for the playoffs,” said Gill-Shane.
