The Western Canadian Bantam AAA champion Seafair Islanders will certainly be well-represented in Salmon Arm this week for B.C. Hockey’s Male U16 Cup.
A whopping seven Islanders are among 10 Richmond players who have been selected to participate in the five-day event, which starts tomorrow with combine testing and practices before the competition gets underway on Thursday.
In total, 144 players were invited to the Okanagan based on their performance at earlier regional camps. The next stage will be identifying players from the B.C. Cup to attend this summer’s Provincial Camp in Shawnigan Lake. Notable players to have come through the U16 program include Coquitlam’s Mathew Barazal (New York Islanders), West Vancouver’s Sam Reinhart (Buffalo Sabres) and Tsawwassen’s Brent Seabrook (Chicago Blackhawks).
Islanders invited to Salmon Arm include goaltenders Ajeet Gundarah and Dylan Tsang; defenseman Ryan Gal and forwards Jaden Uy, Carson Bigras, Austin Kofler and Michael Abgrall.
The Islanders capped a memorable season earlier this month in Kamloops with a dramatic overtime win over Alberta in the gold medal game at Westerns. Earlier, they became the first-ever Seafair team to win the provincial tier one champion. Steve Robinson’s squad also were Pacific Coast flight one regular season and playoff champions.
Also headed to Salmon Arm are forward Sammy May (Delta Hockey Academy) and defensemen Ty Sedivy and Kayden Sadhra-King, both from St. George’s Academy.
