Future NHL stars could be on P.E.I. as Island hosts World U-17 Hockey Challenge

As many as 200 hockey scouts will be looking for the next big NHL prospect in P.E.I. over the next week and a half as Summerside and Charlottetown host the 2023 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.

The event kicked off Thursday and will run until Nov. 11. Six teams made up of young athletes from five countries —Team Canada Red, Team Canada White, Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the United States — will compete for the gold.

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J.P. Desrosiers is deputy chief administrative officer for the City of Summerside. He says this is the highest-calibre international hockey event ever hosted on the Island.

"It's sort of our version of the World Juniors. I think when people visit the venue for events over the next ... 10 days, they'll be quite impressed with the quality of the hockey, the speed of the athletes," Desrosiers said.

"They're likely players you're going to see one day either playing in the World Juniors or in the NHL draft. So it'll be interesting to keep your rosters [from] this event and look back on draft day in the future."

The cities were set to host the event before the COVID-19 pandemic, but plans had to be postponed until 2023.

Desrosiers said between 100 and 200 scouts are expected to come to the event. They will be sitting in specific sections they requested to give them the best vantage point for monitoring the games, he said.

High-end talent on the ice

Byron Bonora, U-17 head scout for Hockey Canada, helped recruit the 44 Canadian players who will be playing for the country's two teams.

"The Canada Winter Games here last year in P.E.I. was a really good resource for us.... A lot of these players did play here, and talking to them, they're really excited to be back here as well," he said. 

"Some of these players in a few years will be high draft picks, you know — maybe even first overall. We've had first-overall draft picks in the NHL play through this program, Nathan MacKinnon and players like that."

While there are no Island players representing Canada on the ice, there are a couple of athletes from the Atlantic region.

One is Owen Conrad, who plays for the Charlottetown Islanders on the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The 16-year-old defenceman will play with Team Canada Red.

Bonora said there's a lot of high-calibre players to watch in this tournament.

"Gavin McKenna, he set the record [at the] Canada Winter Games for [most] points ever in a tournament, and he's from the Yukon," he said. "There's Caleb Desnoyer, first overall draft pick. Matthew Schaefer, first overall draft pick in the OHL. These guys are high-end hockey players and bringing them all together is pretty exciting."

In the first game of the challenge, Czechia beat Team Canada White 4-3 at Credit Union Place.

The medal matches will both be held on Remembrance Day.

Desrosiers said he expects the city to benefit substantially from the event.

"It's November on P.E.I., so the tourism season has wrapped up and we're trying to extend that," he said. "From an economic perspective, it's fantastic."