As 2018 training camp at the Ladner Leisure Centre draws closer, Vancouver Giants General Manager Barclay Parneta has announced some additions to the Western Hockey Club’s scouting staff.
Daryl Anning (Winnipeg, MB) has been hired as Scouting Director while Jason Smart (Kelowna, B.C.), Dale Britton (Red Deer, AB) and John Verrall (Saskatoon, SK) have also joined the Giants scouting staff.
“To be consistently successful in junior hockey, you need to have passionate, hard-working scouts that are relentless in their pursuit of identifying future talent,” said Parneta. “Our scouting staff comprised of Head Scout Terry Bonner, Kelly Kursteiner (Vancouver Island), Mike Green (Northern Alberta), Benoit Roy (Southern Alberta) and Bill Gibson (Saskatchewan) are all on the same page and are excited to hit the ground running. Daryl, Jason, Dale and John will all be welcomed additions to our staff and their knowledge will be of major benefit to the Vancouver Giants as we move forward.”
Anning is a retired police officer and joins the G-Men after spending the past 20 seasons scouting with the Swift Current Broncos. With the Broncos, Anning served as a traveling scout and played a big part in identifying and drafting some of the key contributors to their 2018 WHL Championship. His son David Anning is the head coach of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings.
“I’m very excited to join the Vancouver Giants organization,” said Anning. “I really like the direction that the Giants are heading and I’m looking forward to working closely with Barclay Parneta, head scout Terry Bonner and the rest of our scouting staff to continue building the Giants into a perennial championship contender.
“I want to sincerely thank the Swift Current Broncos for giving me the opportunity to spend the past 20 seasons scouting for them.”
Smart played 243 career games in the WHL (1986-1990) with the Prince Albert Raiders and Saskatoon Blades. In 1989 he was selected by the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins in the 12thround and spent seven seasons playing professionally in the IHL, ECHL, along with stints in both England and The Netherlands. He currently works as an RCMP officer in Kelowna and has previously scouted with the Saskatoon Blades. His son Jonathan is a defencemen with the Kootenay Ice.
Britton joins the Giants after spending each of the past seven seasons scouting with the Moose Jaw Warriors. He also spent four seasons scouting with the Prince Albert Raiders. He lives in Red Deer, AB and will be primarily responsible for scouting the Central Alberta region.
Verrall is a retired physician with experience in video analytics and scouting at multiple levels including the NHL, AHL and CHL. His son Ben Verrall is currently playing hockey at York University. He joins the Giants as a Player Development Analyst.
Giants training camp gets underway on Aug. 23.
