St. John's soccer player drafted 1st overall into Canada's top league

Owen Sheppard has scored a lot of goals on soccer fields around St. John's, and now he's aiming to do it at the highest level in the country.

Sheppard, 21, was selected first overall by Valour FC on Thursday in the Canadian Premier League's U-Sports draft. The annual draft allows the CPL's eight teams to choose players from Canadian universities to sign contracts with their organizations.

Sheppard says it was an "unreal feeling" to be drafted into the top level of Canadian soccer and the country's only full professional league. He was the only Newfoundland and Labrador player drafted.

"When I was younger, just coming into university, I was looking at the CPL draft and I was like, 'Wow, you have to be an exceptional player for a professional team to want you,'" he told CBC News earlier this week. 

"I think displaying my ability this season kind of helped in my favour."

It was likely Sheppard's strong play this past season at Cape Breton University that vaulted him into the draft's top slot. He was the leading scorer in Atlantic University Sport with nine goals in 11 matches, before scoring three more goals and earning tournament MVP honours on the way to a national championship.

But Sheppard said his success on the soccer pitch didn't always seem like a sure thing. 

After being born in St. John's and moving to Alberta as a toddler, Sheppard and his family relocated to Grand Le Pierre when he was a young teenager, a town of fewer than 200 people on Newfoundland's south coast.

"No cell service, no stores, no fields, but I didn't let that stop me from pursuing my passion and playing footy," he said.

After a move back to St. John's and time spent playing with various provincial teams, Sheppard chose to play university soccer in Cape Breton, where the school's track record at the national level and talented team of players would challenge him.

"I worked really, really hard behind the scenes. My first year I saw all these players coming in with backgrounds and resumés from professional clubs, and they were just levels ahead of me," he said.

Sheppard said Jeremy Dow, a partner with DC International Sports Management in Cologne, Germany, was helpful in developing his game — and understood the Newfoundland perspective.

While he was born and raised in Toronto, Dow's family is from central Newfoundland, and he played soccer and studied at Memorial University. He says Valour is getting a hard worker and a skilled athlete in Sheppard.

"Everybody at the club and the technical staff, they're looking forward to this opportunity, as is Owen, and I'm really excited to see how he's going to do. I think he's going to be great," said Dow. 

And according to Dow, some rule changes for the coming season could help Sheppard make a real difference on the pitch.

He said draftees from Canadian universities will no longer count against the CPL salary cap, limiting risks for teams and helping players like Sheppard compete with players developed in professional programs elsewhere in the country.

"Because of the change in the financial structure and the slight increase in squad sizes, U-Sports players have a much better opportunity to obtain legitimate CPL minutes, and that's precisely what's going to be happening with Owen when he goes to Valour," said Dow.

'CPL-ready right now'

Phillip Dos Santos, Sheppard's new coach at Valour FC, agrees that the young player could have an impact on professional games right away.

"Just his space, his versatility and the ability he has to produce offensively in many different ways. I think it's a player that delivered in a big moment and those are things that we look at, so we're excited to see what Owen is able to do," Dos Santos said during Thursday's draft. 

"I think [he's] a player that's CPL-ready right now."

Rich Haywood, who has coached in St. John's for about 20 years, worked with Sheppard at the under-17 level and has helped to mentor the young player as he's developed his game.

Haywood said with his skills and "massive ambition," Sheppard has plenty of opportunities.

"I think the CPL can offer him multiple pathways. He gets exposure at the CPL level, then the possibility for play to continue in the CPL, or to go down to the U.S.… He can go a long way," Haywood said.

"There's also the support financially for U-Sports players going into CPL, playing as a professional for the summer and then getting released Aug. 15, if they want to, to go back to continue their university careers."

Sheppard plans to finish school, but no matter what happens in his soccer career, he's got a lot of support behind him and hopes to inspire other young players from Newfoundland and Labrador.

"You need a bit of luck with these things, but with all these people in my corner, I can't disappoint them," he said. "With all their support, they've helped me reach this stage and it's been amazing."

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