Hockley charts his hockey path
Defenceman from Kentville signs with BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies
Going from one end of Canada to the other, and from one island to another, Kentville, N.S., native Drew Hockley has drawn up his hockey plans for next season and beyond.
Skating one step closer to NCAA Division 1 hockey, the 17-year-old defenceman from the Mount Academy Saints U18 varsity team in Charlottetown, P.E.I., has signed with the junior A Victoria Grizzlies, a storied Vancouver Island franchise in the British Columbia Hockey League.
Hockley is the latest of six Mount players who in recent weeks have committed to play with teams in the BCHL and the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and he’s the first headed to Victoria.
The Grizzlies watched Hockley from afar all season and they saw him play live in January while Mount participated in the Shawnigan Lake, B.C., prep-school tournament. During that trip, he and two other Saints, forwards Sam Boisvert and Gus El-Tahhan, visited nearby Victoria to check out the facilities and meet with the Grizzlies’ coaches and players.
Boisvert and El-Tahhan later signed with another BCHL team, the Nanaimo Clippers, but Hockley affirmed his season-long interest in Victoria and made a verbal commitment at the time and officially signed with the Grizzlies a few weeks later.
“The main thing was probably just how much they like me, not only as a player but as a person,” he said. “They speak highly of me and they really make me feel wanted within the team, so I think it’ll be a great fit for me next year.”
Hockley is an initial client of Newfoundland-based adviser Brian Casey, a standout defenceman with Acadia University during the Axemen’s glory years in the 1990s.
“Brian has been great for me,” said Hockley, a friend of Casey’s son Nathan of the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs. “He was probably the main guy helping me out (in talks) with Victoria and helping me make my decision.
“Brian felt the same thing (that I did). When there’s a team of that calibre and they think that highly of you, you should make a jump on it. They’ve had their fair share of high-end talent go through their program, guys like (NHL forwards) Alex Newhook and Jamie Benn, especially.”
COLLEGE ROUTE
Victoria has been a pipeline for NCAA schools, in particular, and this year is no exception. San Jose Sharks’ draft choice Eli Barnett, a towering defenceman from Riverview, N.B., bound for the University of Vermont next season, was one of the Grizzlies who gave Hockley and his Mount buddies a tour of Victoria’s rink.
Cornell University commit Hoyt Stanley, a coveted defence prospect for this year’s NHL draft, might leave the Grizzlies for college as early as this summer. His father Graham was an impact forward at Dalhousie University in the 1980s before going on to play minor pro.
Among other notable names on Victoria’s current roster are Boston University commit Jack Gorton — son of Montreal Canadiens executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton — and Northeastern University commit Reegan Hiscock, a rookie forward from St. John’s, N.L.
Hockley knows Hiscock through their mutual friendship with the Casey family. Another player familiar to Hockley is newest Grizzlies recruit Malcolm Green, a former Dartmouth, N.S., U18 major forward now playing at Cushing Academy prep school.
“I used to play spring hockey with Malcolm, so it’s going to be pretty cool playing with him again,” Hockley said of the Bedford native.
In 2021, Green was a fourth-round draft selection of the Bathurst Titan, the same QMJHL team that invited Hockley to its training camp last summer. Hockley stayed for a couple of days before leaving camp to maintain his NCAA playing eligibility.
He has had a breakout year in his second U18 season at Mount Academy, which has travelled throughout Canada and the U.S. for showcases and tournaments in front of junior, college and pro scouts. In the past month alone, the Saints followed up their B.C. trip with tournaments in Connecticut and New York State.
Hockley didn’t look out of place earlier this season when he was called up to the junior A Summerside Western Capitals for a couple of Maritime Hockey League games, showing confidence in joining the offence. He has worked to broaden his game even more so in the second half.
“Probably my compete level,” Hockley said about his area of greatest improvement. “Implementing that in my game day in and night out is probably the most important thing that I’ve adapted to moving out of the showcases in the first half and into tournaments (of late). Playing the more, maybe not so aggressive and flashy style of game, but just trying to win for the team.”
NOTRE DAME HISTORY
Along with his mature leadership and defensive diligence, Hockley has contributed almost a point per game this season, with nine goals and 33 points in 38 games.
He was considered a late bloomer on the Maritime hockey scene, but he’s now six-foot-three and 170 pounds and has evolved into an attractive prospect for junior and collegiate hockey.
It’s the very path he envisioned as early as four seasons ago when he packed up his hockey bag at age 14 and spent a year at Saskatchewan’s renowned Notre Dame private school. He had watched with interest as another Annapolis Valley player, Brady Burns of Port Williams, went to Notre Dame a few years earlier. Burns, whose father Darren is Acadia’s longtime coach, now is in his fifth and final Q season with Saint John and recently became the franchise’s all-time goals leader.
Hockley eventually made his way back to the Maritimes, too, and joined the fledgling Mount program in 2020. Next season in the BCHL, he’ll see some of his former Notre Dame buddies as roommate Nolan Stevenson has signed with the Penticton Vees and John Franceschetti committed to the West Kelowna Warriors.
One of Hockey’s Mount teammates from last year, St. Lawrence University commit Isaac Tremblay, skates with the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL. Vernon had expressed interest in Hockley, as did Nanaimo — where his friends Boisvert and El-Tahhan landed — and teams in the AJHL.
But his head and his heart were set on Victoria, which has already proposed bringing Hockley aboard for a late-season visit to meet his eventual teammates and soak up the BCHL atmosphere.
Before then, he celebrates his 18th birthday March 3 on the same weekend Mount visits the University of North Dakota to participate in a showcase tournament. The Saints then head to Toronto for the Canadian Sport School Hockey League playoffs.
From balancing school and hockey to studying on the bus and in hotels during long road trips, and sharpening teammates’ skates along the way, the studious Hockley has been zoned in for years. His ticket to Victoria is well-earned.
“Yeah, it’s just been a grind,” he said. “It’s something I’ve been working for, for a long time, so finally seeing my work pay off, it’s relieving a little bit. But there’s still a lot more that I want to achieve. It’s a good push in the right direction. I’m excited.”