Eight players from Surrey are among the 60 invited by BC Hockey to attend the Male U16 Provincial Camp this summer in Shawnigan Lake.
Six of the local players invited are forwards, including Justin Sourdif, the third-overall selection by the Vancouver Giants in the recent Western Hockey League Bantam Draft. Other forwards from Surrey invited include Burnaby Winter Club players Deepkaran Hans and Walker Erickson, Cameron McDonald of the Yale Hockey Academy, and Delta Hockey Academy members Josh Evans and Dan O’Neill. McDonald was a fifth-round selection of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL draft, while O’Neill was claimed in the sixth round by the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Two local defencemen invited to Shawnigan Lake are Nicolas Ardanaz and Kurtis Smythe, both of the Delta academy. Smyth was also taken in the WHL draft, going in the second round to the Saskatoon Blades.
Players were invited to the July 11-16 camp based on their performance at the U16 BC Cup in Salmon Arm in late April. Of the 60 in Shawnigan Lake, 20 will be chosen this fall to Team BC, which will compete at the 2017 Western Branch Challenge against provincial teams from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.