.png;w=743)
Ryder Green, Chase Harrington and Cameron Schmidt have different hockey backgrounds but they all grew up in Prince George and now they’re united on Team BC.
On Sunday night in Charlottetown, P.E.I., they’ll take on Ontario (3:30 p.m. PT) to begin the 10-team male hockey tournament at the Canada Winter Games.
It’s the first time in the 56-year history of the Canada Games three Prince George minor hockey products have made the cut for the B.C. provincial boys U-15 hockey team.
“It’s pretty cool, a pretty special moment,” said Green, who plays for the U-17 Cariboo Cougars in the BC Elite Hockey League. “I’m really excited. I would say our chances (of winning) are pretty high.”
The 15-year-old Green’s rise to the top of the provincial chart as one of two goalies on Team BC is even more remarkable considering he’s played the game for only five years and this is just his second season playing on competitive hockey. He made the switch from soccer, where he was not a goalie, and in his first season last year with the U-15 Cariboo Cougars, he impressed the WHL scouts enough to get drafted in the eighth round by the Brandon Wheat Kings.
So how did he make that happen?
“I would say my work ethic,” said the five-foot-10, 148-pound Green. “I played soccer ever since I was very little, but I played out (of the crease).”
In 16 games for the Cougars this season he sports a 10-4-1 record and 2.70 goals-against average. Now he’s playing with the best of his age group peers in a tournament that happens just once every four years.
“He a really good athlete and he does work hard,” said Cariboo Cougars general manager Trevor Sprague. “His goalie coach Kris Joyce has done a great job with him, but Green has had to work his butt off and out the effort in to become the goalie he is.”
Schmidt and Harrington, both forwards, started playing hockey long before Green, when they were just toddlers and they now play in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League on academy teams. Schmidt plays for RINK Academy Kelowna U-18 Prep and Harrington skates for the Delta Academy U-18 Prep and. Both figured prominently in last year’s WHL Prospects Draft. Schmidt was selected seventh overall by the Vancouver Giants and Harrington followed as the eighth overall pick of the Spokane Chiefs.
Listed at five-foot-eight, 150 pounds, Schmidt was sidelined with a back injury and has been limited to just 12 games this season but has scored 11 goals and eight assists since returning to lineup at RINK Academy, where he’s coached by Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla. Schmidt scored his first WHL goal in his first game with the Giants to kickstart their 3-2 overtime win over the Tri-City Americans, Jan. 6 in Kennewick, Wash.
“That was obviously a great experience to be called up to the Giants and I’m just happy to get the first one out of the way,” said Schmidt.
The six-foot, 170-pound Harrington has 12 goals and 33 points in 24 games this season for Delta Academy. He made his WHL debut Oct. 22 for the Chiefs against the Seattle Thunderbirds, where he was roundly booed by the Seattle crowd of 3,400 while he took his rookie initiation warmup laps on the ice ahead of his teammates.
The hockey team has been practicing this week in Richmond and is scheduled to fly to Prince Edward Island on one of two Team BC charters late Thurday night.
“It’s nice having a couple guys you grew up with to share this moment with, it’s a big honour and I’m just happy to be part of that,” said he 16-year-old Schmidt. “It’s going to be cool to see all the other sports going on down there.”
Schmidt and Harrington played spring hockey together last year and represented B.C. at the World Youth Championship in Philadelphia. The chance to play in the Canada Games is a career highlight.
“It’s a huge honour, once every four years and we’re pretty lucky we get to go,” said the 15-year-old Harrington. “We’re a pretty good group, everyone’s pretty close and we’ve got a good shot at winning.
As Prince George witnessed in 2015 when the city hosted the Canada Winter Games, it’s like a mini-Olympics, with the best athletes in the country competing in different sports and the hockey players are looking forward to checking out some of those other sports.
“We’re going to try to watch something new every day,” said Harrington. “Seeing the best from every sport will be pretty cool.”
The Canada Games events will be streamed live, beginning with the opening ceremonies Saturday at 3:30 p.m. PT.
