A pair of Victoria products will represent Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge in Nova Scotia this week.
Defenceman Nolan de Jong (1995) of the Victoria Grizzlies and forward Wade Murphy (1993) of the Penticton Vees will face the Czech Republic on Tuesday and Russia on Wednesday.
Both games are at noon, and are streamed online at Hockeycanada.ca.
De Jong and Murphy are joined by former Grizzly Evan Richardson (1994) of the Powell River Kings.
Last year Victoria’s Wes Myron, then of the Grizzlies, represented Canada West and won gold.
On Friday (Nov. 2) the Grizzlies host the Cowichan Capitals, 7:15 p.m. at Bear Mountain Arena.
Last weekend Leo Fitzgerald pounced on a rebound and chipped it over Vees goalie Chad Katunar (a Victoria native) to give the Grizzlies a 3-2 win in double overtime. It was the second time the Grizzlies (12-5-1) defeated the league’s best Vees (13-2-2) this season.
Murphy scored for the Vees in both games and is the top scorer in the B.C. Hockey League with 10 goals and 16 assists in 15 games.
Murphy and de Jong are committed to well reputed NCAA programs for 2013-14, Murphy to the University of North Dakota, de Jong to the University of Michigan.
Chargers dropped for youth hockey player
RCMP will not pursue charges from a youth ice hockey incident Sept. 23 at Nanaimo’s Frank Crane Arena.
A player from the bantam-aged Saanich Braves (ages 13-14) suffered a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding caused by an alleged spear from the stick of a Nanaimo player.
A parent of the player who was hit complained. The victim required medical treatment for the injuries.
“Numerous witness accounts and a video of the event failed to identify any evidence of criminality, said Constable Gary O’Brien in a statement from Nanaimo RCMP.
“The players, parents and Nanaimo minor hockey officials have been notified of the results of the investigation.”
Local coach to scout for Twins
Youth baseball coach and UVic computer science doctorate Gautam Srivastava has picked up a part time job with major league status.
Srivastava will scout for the Minnesota Twins, covering the local region for the Twins’ Canadian scout.
In 2010, Srivastava was named Baseball Canada’s coach of the year and is currently the general manager for the Victoria Eagles Baseball Club.
“The Twins are convinced having one of their scouts based in B.C. gives them a leg up in identifying our local talent,” said Srivastava in the Eagles release.
