Richmond’s Tyler Horstmann is among 20 players named to the U16 Team B.C. that will be competing in the upcoming 2017 Western Hockey League (WHL) Cup in Calgary.
Wednesday’s final roster announcement concluded an extensive tryout process that began last spring and included a week-long provincial camp in Shawnigan Lake back in July.
Horstmann, a 15-year-old forward, came through Seafair Minor Hockey’s rep program before shifting over to the Delta Hockey Academy in Tsawwassen last season to play at the Bantam Prep level. He was among 14 DHA players selected in last spring’s WHL Bantam Draft — going 70th overall to the Edmonton Oil Kings.
He has moved back closer to home this season — playing for the Richmond Olympic Oval based Greater Vancouver Canadians of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League. He has three points in four games.
The WHL Cup, formerly known as the Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup, features the highest-rated U16 players from Alberta, B.C. Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The four team round-robin format is the first step in the Hockey Canada Program of Excellence (POE) and assists the western provincial hockey Branches in evaluating the top prospects in this age group for future high-performance programs. The WHL Cup is made possible through financial support provided by the WHL.
B.C. kicks off its schedule Oct. 18 against Team Saskatchewan. The tournmanent concludes Oct. 22 with the bronze and gold medal matchups.
“On behalf of the Team BC staff, we are excited about this group of young men selected to play for Team B.C. at the 2017 WHL Cup,” said B.C. Hockey’s Male Program of Excellence (POE) Coordinator Fred Zweep. “There was a thorough evaluation process on selecting Team B.C. and we are looking forward to a highly competitive event.”
