The Greater Vancouver Canadians will be enjoying home ice advantage at the Richmond Olympic Oval for at least the next three seasons.
The B.C. Major Midget Hockey League club made a three-year commitment to remain at the Oval after re-locating to the world class venue for the 2012-13 campaign. The Canadians are a regional rep team for 15-to-17-year-olds and represent top talent from Richmond, South Delta and Vancouver. Recent graduates include 2015 St. Louis Blues draft pick Glenn Gawdin, along with current NHLers Evander Kane and Brendan Gallagher.
The partnership with the Oval goes beyond regular ice times. The league is able to utilize both rinks to host Showcase Weekends and renovations were recently completed on the Canadians own dressing room.
Each player also receives membership to the Oval to take advantage of the many programs that are offered.
“Our dressing room is now on par or even better than most teams in the B.C. Hockey League,” said Canadians head coach Phil Alalouf. “And you saw this past weekend with the Showcase how we now have bleachers to accommodate the fans. The Oval has really stepped up for us and we are exciting to be playing here.”
The city location for games and practices also makes it a desired option for players from Richmond Minor and Seafair. The club typically has a large local representation and this year is no exception with seven players: Kyle Ahlfield, Michael Araki-Young, Chris Douglas, Nick Marsh, EJ Shaw, Thomas Von Schoenberg and Julius Zhang.
Despite losing all but five players to junior hockey, the Canadians are off to a solid start out of the gate with a 3-1-0 record, including a sweep of the Kootenay Ice last weekend at the Oval. Most of the new talent has come from academy teams.
“This isn’t a team with two or three standouts but rather excellent balance when you go right down our entire roster,” added Alalouf.
“I think the academy kids have already discovered just how competitive this league is, especially with the new player boundaries. Kootenay has not been one of the strongest teams over the years but nothing came easy against them over the weekend and it’s going to be like that all season.”
Brennan Gaytmenn’s first period goal was the difference in the Canadians’ 1-0 win Sunday in the series finale.
