The Greater Vancouver Canadians have dipped into their rich albeit brief history to add a different dimension to player evaluations for the coming season.
The seven-year-old franchise, that has established itself as one of the powerhouses in the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League, has already produced two NHL regulars and six draft picks. It's that kind of success that sells the program and head coach Leland Mack made sure every prospect who showed up at the team's recent tryout camp was aware of it.
The response was large enough to ice four teams for the inaugural Evander Kane Cup - in honour of the former Canadian standout who is now thriving with the Winnipeg Jets. One of the teams was also named after Kane while Anaheim Ducks forward Brandon McMillan, along with recent NHL draft picks Brendan Gallagher (Montreal) and Josh Nichols (Toronto), rounded out the other entries.
"We thought it was a neat way to pay tribute to the players who have come through our program," said Mack. "Slowly we are building some history and it was also great to see so many alumni players wanting to come back and help out."
The Canadians coach staff was pleased to witness competitive games throughout the tournament then was left with the difficult decision of having to commit to 12 players for the coming season as mandated by the league.
Making the job somewhat easier were eight players returning for their sophomore season, including standout goalie Tristan Jarry who helped Team B.C. win gold at the Canada Winter Games. He is joined by forwards Robbie Johnson, Taylor Foote and Malcolm Glaholt, along with defencemen Arvin Atwal, Trevor Lima, Matt Ho and Bryce Eviston.
Among the rookies to earn two of the spots were forwards Tyler Sandhu (Seafair) and Mitch Walter (South Delta), taken in the early rounds of the WHL Bantam Draft by the Portland Winterhawks and Edmonton Oil Kings respectively.
Tryouts continued this past weekend with the remaining players split into two teams, named after Manraj Hayer of the Everett Silvertips and Richmond's own Troy Stetcher who now plays for Penticton of the B.C. Hockey League and has secured a scholarship to Nebraska-Omaha in 2012.
With many prospects now headed to WHL or BCHL training camps, the tryouts won't resume until Sept. 4 with 29 players still in the hunt for roster spots. A number were taken in this spring's Bantam Draft, suggesting just how competitive the tryouts have been.
"We may not have as many of those super skilled guys like a (last year's top scorer and Portland Winterhawk) Nic Petan, but what we do have is a lot of depth," added Mack. "I look at our backend and we have 10 good defencemen still in camp and only so many roster spots."
