Katie Chan will be the youngest player attending the upcoming B.C. Hockey U18 Team B.C. Selection Camp in Shawnigan Lake but she is hardly an underdog story.
The 14-year-old standout, who played for the Richmond Ravens top Bantam team last season, earned her way to Vancouver Island by showing why she is one of the top up-and-coming talents in the province.
Chan was the leading goal scorer at the Female Program of Excellence Identification Camp held in April in Salmon Arm which determined which 42 players would move on.
That stage of the tryout process featured over 100 prospects with the Steveston-London Secondary student being the lone 2003-born player invited.
She will be joined in Shawnigan by four other Richmond players, including a pair of returnees from last yeat’s team that won bronze at U18 Nationals — defensemen Courtney Vorster and Kate Reilly.
Vorster, 17, went on to play for Canada at the U18 World Championships last January in the Czech Republic. She will be wearing Team B.C. colours for a third straight year this November when the U18 National Championships take place in Quebec City.
Both Vorster and Reilly, 16, attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s Hockey Academy in Minnesota this past season.
Also heading to the Island are blueliner Hannah Green and forward Katrina Lannard. Green, 17, played for the Greater Vancouver Comets of the B.C. Female Midget “AAA” Hockey League, while Lannard, also 17, attended the Delta Hockey Academy in Tsawwassen where she played for the inaugural Female Varsity team.
From this camp, 26 players will be invited to the final selection camp where 20 athletes will be chosen to represent Team B.C. at nationals.
“We are excited to host BC Hockey’s top U18 female hockey players in Shawnigan Lake,” says Whitney Juszkiewicz, B.C. Hockey’s Female Program of Excellence Coordinator. “They will experience extensive on and off-ice training, team building and seminars focused to inform and benefit the athletes.”
