Grizzlies rookies shine at U-17 worlds

Newhook, Alexander return to BCHL team for this weekend’s games in Powell River

The results may not have been as hoped for Canada Team Black, but the experience at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge proved priceless for Victoria Grizzlies players Alex Newhook and Jacson Alexander.

“You get to see where you measure up against the best of the best in the world,” said Newhook, the crafty and quick forward, who scored a goal and had four points in the tournament.

“It was really cool. The level was fast and skilled. I thought I played well.”

The 66 best 16-year-old players from across the country were selected for the Canada Black, Red and White teams that played the U-17 national teams from the United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John.

“We were unlucky with the draw in the quarter-finals [in which Team Black lost 4-3 to Team Red in an all-Canadian bracket],” said Newhook, who is NCAA committed to Boston College in 2019.

Canada Red went on to the championship game, losing 6-4 to the U.S. on Saturday night. The Czech Republic edged Canada White 2-1 in the bronze-medal game.

Both Newhook, from St. John’s, Nfld., and Esquimalt-product Alexander are projected for the upper rounds of the 2019 NHL draft, with Newhook touted as a potential first-rounder.

Also on Team Black was defenceman Luke Reid of the B.C. Hockey League’s Penticton Vees. Reid was the Victoria Royals’ first pick in the 2016 WHL bantam draft, taken in the second round, but who has instead declared his intentions to play in the NCAA for North Dakota. The Royals still control the five-foot-11 Reid’s WHL playing rights, should he change his mind.

Alexander was selected in the first round of the 2016 WHL bantam draft by the Swift Current Broncos, but the Islander also decided to play in the NCAA, at the University Denver, once he graduates from Grade 12.

Thirteen of the last 17 firstoverall selections in the NHL draft played in the U-17 World Challenge tournament. They include Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash, Marc-André Fleury, Alexander Ovechkin, Erik Johnson, Patrick Kane, John Tavares, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nathan MacKinnon, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.

Newhook, who said his ultimate goal is the NHL, added he is looking forward to a national team progression with Hockey Canada during his junior/collegiate career. He will almost certainly be a candidate for future Canadian U-20 teams to the world junior championships.

“The next goal is to work toward making the national U-18 team,” he said.

But for now it’s back from country to club as Newhook and Alexander rejoin the Grizzlies for BCHL games Friday and Saturday in Powell River against the Kings.