Penticton prepped for prep stars

High school hockey championships begin today

The 2018 BDO Canadian School Sports Hockey League Championships is bigger than ever as it returns to Penticton for a fourth consecutive year.

A total of 68 teams and over 1,200 student athletes are competing in the 10-day event, which will see champions crowned in all seven CSSHL divisions, male and female.

Games start today at 8 a.m. and run until March 18 at Okanagan Hockey Training Centre, Memorial Arena and South Okanagan Events Centre.

The action on the ice will be loaded with talent, including nine students that were selected in the first round of the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. At the 2017 event, spectators were able to see 66 students that would go on to be selected at the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, including 13 in the first round, featuring the top seven picks in the draft.

WHL Bantam Draft 2017 first overall pick Kaiden Guhle and second overall pick Connor McClennon highlight the list of students competing this year. Both competed in the Bantam Prep Division last season and are now in the CSSHL’s highest division, the Midget Prep Division, which gets underway on Wednesday.

Logan Angers and Courtney Kollman highlight the CSSHL’s top female division, Prep, which gets underway on Monday. Both were members of the bronze medal-winning Canadian National team at the 2018 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship this past winter.

The schedule for the championship games (all at Okanagan Hockey Training Centre): Monday, 10:45 a.m.: Bantam Varsity. Tuesday, 1:15 p.m.: Midget Varsity. Wednesday, 1:15 p.m.: Female Varsity. Thursday, 10:45 a.m.: Female Prep (top female division)

Sunday, March 18, Bantam Prep (top bantam division), 8:15 a.m.; Elite 15 (15-year-old division), 11 a.m.; Midget Prep (top midget division), 1:45 p.m.

Off the ice, the event is looking to grow on its $2.89-million economic impact for Penticton in 2017.