A defenceman with NHL Draft prospects highlights a trio of recent Surrey Eagle recruits for the coming season.
The South Surrey-based BC Hockey League squad announced earlier this week the commitment of 18-year-old Cade Alami, a hulking six-foot-seven blue-liner who split last season between Massachusetts-based Berkshire School on the U.S. high-school circuit and the Mid-Fairfield Rangers midget team.
Alami is already committed to play for NCAA Div. 1 Providence College, and despite missing significant playing time last season due to injury, is currently listed 173rd on NHL Central Scouring’s list of the top North American skaters who are eligible for the upcoming NHL draft, which is to be held in Vancouver June 21-22.
“It’s definitely very exciting,” Alami said of his pre-draft ranking.
“I talked to a couple of NHL scouts before my injury, and I’ve talked to a few pretty recently. I honestly wasn’t expecting much because I haven’t played a lot of hockey lately, but it is an honour that they put me on there.”
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Alami’s size is the first thing that jumps off the page, but he said he brings much more to the table that just a physical presence.
“When people see a 6-foot-7 defenceman, they think he must be just a big kid who buries people in the corner. I certainly like to do that, but I like to think of myself as more of a two-way defenceman,” he said in a news release issued by the Eagles.
“I’m a big kid but I can also produce offensively as well, so that’s what I’m going to try to do in Surrey.”
He’s excited about playing in Surrey for new coach Cam Keith, as well.
“Just from talking to coach Keith, I love everything about the situation in Surrey. It’s awesome. He seems like a very reliable guy that will always do the right thing. I liked him from the start. I can’t wait to play for him. I want to bring a championship back to Surrey, that’s my mindset going in.”
In addition to Alami, the Eagles have added two more committed players since holding their annual spring camp earlier in May. Maple Ridge’s Cody Hough, a 2001-born defenceman, has also been added to the nest, as has high-scoring forward Riley Gannon, 16, who is coming off a rookie-of-the-year season in the junior ‘B’ Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.
Hough has previously played with both the Delta and Yale hockey academies, and also spent two seasons playing for the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs of the BC Major Midget League. Over the past two seasons, he has also played six BCHL games as an affiliate player, for both the Coquitlam Express and Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Gannon, meanwhile, scored at more than a point-per-game pace in the VIJHL, tallied 50 points in 46 games with his hometown Nanaimo Buccaneers.
Earlier this spring, the Eagles announced commitments of three other players – Nate Ibraheem, Kenny Riddett and Michael Carfone.
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