Five former Warriors attending NHL camps
Five West Kelowna Warriors alumni are currently attending NHL training camps for the 2021 season.
Forward Jason Cotton recently signed with the Carolina Hurricanes after a sensational 2019-20 season with Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
The Parker, Texas native joins his brother, David Cotton, in Hurricanes camp.
Goaltender Kevin Boyle is attending Detroit Red Wings camp after spending the past four seasons with the San Diego Gulls and Anaheim Ducks. Boyle is in a crowded Red Wings crease, with Jonathan Bernier, Thomas Greiss and Calvin Pickard.
Colton Sissons rejoins his Nashville Predators team that is expecting more out of the North Vancouver native with the departures of Kyle Turris and Craig Smith up the middle.
Sissons played his 16-year-old season with the BC Hockey League Warriors before joining the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.
The most famous Warriors alumni, local product and two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenceman Justin Schultz, recently signed a two year, $8-million dollar contract with the Washington Capitals and is expected to pair up with B.C. boy Brendan Dillon on the blue line.
Schultz, 30, recorded 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 46 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.
Over five seasons with the Penguins beginning in 2015-16, Schultz’s 113 points (22 goals, 91 assists) ranked second among Penguins defensemen.
In 482 career games between the Edmonton Oilers and Penguins, Schultz has 214 points (40 goals, 164 assists).
Forward Jack Finley has joined the Tampa Bay Lightning after signing his entry level contract last month.
Finley was loaned to the Warriors by the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL to play in the pre-season Okanagan Cup tournament.
The highest amount of BCHL representation can be found on the Detroit Red Wings roster where five former players from the league are listed. Five other NHL teams have three alums at camp.
Twenty-four of the 31 teams have at least one former BCHL player on their roster.
Training camps will take place over the next week or so and then teams will need to cut down to their final rosters ahead of opening night of the NHL schedule on Jan. 13.
The BC Hockey League is hoping to get permission to open its season later this month.