Two Comox Valley players helped their teams advance to the final of the 2012 BC Hockey Male U17 BC Cup, played May 9-13 in Salmon Arm.
Goalie Mike Herringer was a member of Team Stars, who defeated Team Wild with forward Liam Shaw 1-0 in the May 13 championship final. It was the second one-goal game between the two teams as the Stars prevailed 5-4 on May 10.
After that opening day win, the Stars fell 6-4 to the Bruins, doubled the Canucks 2-1, edged the Sabres 3-2 and downed the Flyers 7-2.
The Wild won their second game 2-1 over the Sabres, knocked off the Flyers 4-1 and the Canucks 4-1 then dispatched the Bruins 7-4.
In the final, Jackson Waniek (Surrey) scored at the 7:12 mark of the third period to give Team Stars the victory.
A complete recap of the event is available on the BC Hockey website on the 2012 Male U17 BC Cup event page. The top 120 male hockey players born in 1996 from across B.C. attended the tourney.
The BC Hockey Male Under 17 High Performance Program is an introduction to international high performance hockey which involves a series of short-term camps and competitions, just as Canada's national teams are exposed to it at a higher level.
In addition, the Under 17 program is a pre-cursor to the well-established Hockey Canada Program of Excellence, consisting of Canada’s Under 18, World Junior and Men’s National teams.
Some notable BC Hockey Male High Performance graduates who have competed in the program include Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks), Brent Seabrook (Blackhawks), Gilbert Brule (Phoenix Coyotes), Karl Alzner (Washington Capitals), Kyle Turris (Ottawa Senators) and Brett Connolly (Tampa Bay Lightning).
