There will be plenty of Seafair flavour when the Greater Vancouver Canadians open the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League regular season this weekend in Kelowna.
Taking advantage of Seafair's outstanding 1996 age group that resulted in one of the top Bantam A1 teams in the province last season, the Canadians have welcomed four of them to the program.
The contingent includes forward Tyler Sandhu (Portland) and Shaun Dosanjh (Vancouver) who were selected in last spring's Western Hockey League Bantam Draft.
Sandhu was among the first players to sign with Greater Vancouver when tryouts commenced in mid-August, while Dosanjh earned his roster spot at a position that featured the most competition at camp.
Forwards Austin Adamson and Alec Dawydiak also made the final roster. The Canadians plan to make good use of Adamson's versatility while Dawydiak had an outstanding pre-season, scoring nine goals in as many games.
"(Alec) is just one of those stealth guys where you don't really see him on your radar screen but there here is on the scoresheet every night," said Canadians head coach Leland Mack. "He wasn't drafted and didn't make the provincial camp but was the second leading scorer at the B.C. Cup and then was among the top scorers at the KIBHT (Kamloops tournament) when he was picked up by North Shore. Sure enough, he comes here and fills the net for us too.
"Austin is a strong skater who has improved a lot in the last year. He can be used in all situations, including (penalty killing)."
The Canadians should have a tough test right out of the gate with two games against the Okanagan Rockets, starting on Saturday.
Their roster also features five returning players -- defencemen Arvin Atwal, Matt Ho, and Trevor Lima, along with forwards Taylor Foote and Malcolm Glaholt.
Initially nine veterans had committed to the 2011-12 campaign but four of them have advanced to the junior level, including goaltender Tristan Jarry who will be starting the WHL season with Edmonton.
Greater Vancouver was eliminated from the provincial playoffs for the third straight season in heartbreaking fashion by the Vancouver Northwest Giants.
"This group doesn't have the same high end talent but there is definitely a lot of depth," added Mack. "From one to 12 (among our forwards) they can play with anyone at anytime."
