Meet Callum Arnott
VEES SCOUTING REPORT
Name: Callum Arnott Height: 6’1 Weight: 175 pounds Position: Forward Hand: Right Home: King City, Ont. Age: 18
COACHING REPORT
“It’s going to be great to have another Arnott as a Vee. While Callum is a forward versus brother and former Vee, Grayson, Callum plays with the same intelligence and effortless stride,” Vees’ coach and GM Fred Harbinson said. “He is an extremely responsible player who has the ability to play both centre and wing. He has physically grown a lot in the last year, and should be able to use his increased size and strength to advantage.”
PLAYER BACKGROUND
From Toronto, Arnott played his midget hockey years with St. Andrew’s College. St. Andrew’s is one of Canada’s top hockey development programs, and the Vees’ typically recruit at least one player from the Aurora-based prep school every season.
Callum followed Grayson to St. Andrew’s and now he’s also graduating to the Vees.
“I initially got into hockey because of my older brother. He would always be playing hockey when I was younger, and I picked up my love of the game through him. At first, he would stick me in nets, and I’d be target practice for him. But, as we got older, he really helped me a lot; I think a learned a lot defensively from him. He texts me often over the course of the year; trying to give me tips and making me a better player.”
The parents (Dad is an NHL agent) have always been very supportive.
“My parents were awesome in making sure hockey was always fun, a sport to love. My mom holds the fort down at home, but I think she plans on living in Penticton parttime this year because she loves this city so much. My uncle (former NHL all-star Jason Arnott), has been a big part of my life and an inspiration because of everything he accomplished as a player in the NHL.”
RECENT HOCKEY HIGHLIGHTS
“The previous two seasons I played for St. Andrews College, and my favourite moment was being able to travel to the United States
and play games. COVID created a lot of uncertainty in Ontario, and cancelled a lot of sports, so it was very special to play when very few other teams were playing in the province.”
“The highlight moment last season was our playoff run. Our team underachieved for much of the year. We had lots of good excuses, but we put things together during the playoffs, and played the highly-favoured Shattuck’s St. Mary’s team in the finals. Our team started nervous, but our affiliate goaltender played incredibly and kept us in the game, and gave us a chance to start stringing plays together. We ended up losing in overtime — it was a tough loss, but in retrospect, it was a great way to end the year.”
My favourite hockey moment to date was in atom when we won the Ontario Hockey Federation championship in 2014-15. We were just a house team, but we got better and better throughout the season, and managed to take down a lot of the expected favourites along the way.
BEING A VEE
Arnott has had the advantage of not only coming to watch Vees games last year, but also practicing with the team for a week last season. “What appeals to me is the overall atmosphere of playing in Penticton. Watching games last year, and seeing how passionate the fans of Penticton are about hockey has got me really excited to play in the city. I think that fans will like my 200foot game, being able to play both sides of the puck effectively. People will probably see a lot of similarities in my game to Grayson’s, except that I’m a forward who will take more chances in driving the offense than he could as defenceman.”