A Prince George athlete will get his Junior hockey debut with the Campbell River Storm when the new season starts. Markus Myatovic signed with the club for the 2020/21 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL) season, Head Coach and General Manager Lee Stone said this week.
“Markus is a big body that is supremely talented and has a high IQ with and without the puck,” Stone said. “Watching game tape, it became clear he was not only a major contributor for his team, but that his skills and smarts were at another level.”
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Myatovic, 18, spent last season with the North Central Bobcats, a U18 AA team. The left-handed forward had 22 points (11 goals and 11 assists) over 20 regular season games. Those 22 points put him in sixth in the province for the U18 AA league. Myatovic and the Bobcats qualified for the provincial championship tournament in Nanaimo, but it was cancelled before they could aim for gold.
Stone said the six-foot-three, 165-pound centre, will need to put on some weight.
“We will help him do that but even at his current weight, he is not afraid to use his size to his advantage,” he said.
Myatovic said he chose to join the Campbell River Storm because the program had a good reputation among VIJHL players.
He’s looking forward to playing home games at a loud barn and getting to “experience the electrifying atmosphere inside the Brindy.”
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Hockey runs in the family and Myatovic’s younger brother Nico just signed a WHL Standard Player Agreement earlier this year with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The elder Myatovic said he models his game after Elias Pettersson and Aleksander Barkov.
“(I’m) smart and fast with good vision and creativity,” he said. “I love competing and I hate losing with a passion.”
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