Blueliner Dalton Thrower is heading to Japan to represent British Columbia at the Under-16 Memorial Cup celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Nagano Olympics.The 14-year-old was one of six defencemen selected from the province to wear the maple leaf against Russia and Japan from Feb. 7-11.
Making the cut is a tremendous achievement for the hockey player who moved from 樱桃视频to the North Shore last September as it emphasizes that he's truly one the brightest young stars emerging from the west coast.
"He's in elite company from the province on that team," said his "AAA" North Shore Winter Club coach Jim Dinwoodie. "He's an exceptional kid and I was really happy to see him move on. He's definitely got bigger and better things ahead of him."
Thrower's addition to Team B.C. coincided with making the Under-16 Zone 5 roster for the B.C. Winter Games being held in Cranbrook Feb. 21-24. About 80 kids tried out in early January to represent the Vancouver-樱桃视频region while hundreds more competed to play for seven other zones around the province. Two kids from each zone were then selected for the international competition (three were chosen from Zone 5).
Thrower's father Murray was overcome with emotion when he was told his son would be representing Canada overseas."I couldn't speak," he said of getting the phone call. "It just means something so important, it really does. All the sacrifices that our families made for this to happen, it's pretty awesome."
Last year, Thrower billeted with a family in Kelowna while attending the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy, whose students undergo an intense academic and athletic regimen based on developing hockey and life skills. Although it was tough on the Throwers to send their son - then 12 years old - away for school, the personal growth they witnessed in him was astounding, said Murray.
"It was way more than hockey that he took out of that, and I give them a lot of credit for making him the kind of player that he is right now."
Despite success at the academy, Thrower joined the Bantam North Shore Winter Club this season in order to start competing against more players and gain exposure for the Bantam Western Hockey League (WHL) draft. At 5'11" and 170 lbs, the physical but offensive defender has played a big part in the "AAA" team's undefeated season, said Dinwoodie."He skates really well, too. I think that will really separate him. And it's his first year of 'AAA' so he's still learning lots."
Dinwoodie said he suspects Thrower will rank highly in the upcoming WHL draft. Scouts are beginning to discover the player who was relatively unknown in 樱桃视频because he didn't get to play many of the elite tournaments.
Meanwhile, Thrower's attention is on Nagano, which will be his second international hockey experience having competed in Russia last spring.
Unfortunately, Thrower was unavailable to comment on his expectations for the trip across the Pacific he was at hockey practice.
