A new era begins this weekend for the Greater Vancouver Canadians.
The regional rep program will be operating teams in the B.C. Major Midget and the new B.C. Minor Midget Leagues for the 2018-19 campaign.
The B.C. Minor Major League is exclusively for 15-year-olds to help ease the transition into the three-year age division (15-to-17-year-olds) and develop with athletes of the same age.
The Major Midget League still allows 15 year-olds should that player wish to try out for an MML team.
“BC Hockey is constantly striving to provide relevant hockey opportunities to players in B.C. and the Yukon,” said BC Hockey Chief Executive Officer Barry Petrachenko
“Our members have identified the 15-year-old age group as a key piece in our development model and an area that has been under serviced in recent years, and in response we feel this programming sets us on a path to address the current needs of our participants.”
The unveiling of the new league earlier this year put the wheels in motion for the Canadians to expand their program.
It was back in May when Abbotsford native Jacob Mangone was named head coach of the Minor Midget team.
The roster was recently finalized and includes Ryan Bal, Tyler Matsuo, Austin Kofler and Dylan Tsang who all helped the Seafair Islanders win the Bantam AAA Western Canadian championship last spring. South Delta’s Matthew Peterson, who was selected by the Vancouver Giants in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft, is also on the team.
The Midget Minor Canadians will open their regular season Oct. 5-6 when the Valley West Giants visit the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Meanwhile, the Major Midget Canadians open their schedule tomorrow in Kelowna against the Okanagan Rockets.
Returning head coach Phil Alalouf has number of returning players to work with including Garrett Wicks, Hayden Tuba, Noah Boroditsky, Vincent Thrum, Ian Kern, Gabriel Parent, Nathan Racey, Tanner Gushel, Joshua Harrison, Van Lupien and goaltender Elliott Marshall.
The Canadians then head to Nanaimo next weekend to take on the North Island Silvertips before the league’s showcase two weeks later in Abbotsford. Their home opener at the Oval is Oct. 14 against Vancouver North East Chiefs.
