Victoria Royals blue-liner Justin Kipkie was scrimmaging in Northwest Calgary while the Arizona Coyotes were selecting him 160th overall in the fifth round of the NHL draft Thursday in Nashville. Kipkie drove into his driveway and was greeted to a group hug by awaiting parents Craig and Anne Kipkie and brothers Owen and Mason.
“There were a few tears. You think of everything they have done for you, and for which you are so grateful,” said Kipkie.
That encapsulates the emotions of draft day.
“It’s a dream come true. My phone is blowing up,” added Kipkie.
The 2023 NHL draft concluded Thursday for the remaining Island players, and those on Island teams, following former sa国际传媒 Hockey League Victoria Grizzlies forward Matthew Wood from Nanaimo being taken 15th overall in the first round Wednesday by the Nashville Predators.
Grizzlies blue-liner Hoyt Stanley, headed to NCAA Div. 1 Cornell, went 108th overall in the fourth round to the Ottawa Senators, Royals defenceman Kalem Parker 181st overall in the sixth round to the Minnesota Wild and Owen Beckner of Victoria, out of the Racquet Club Kings and BCHL Salmon Arm Silverbacks, 204th overall in the seventh round to the Senators.
Parker was working at his landscaping job in Saskatoon when he heard.
“It was a cool moment and I texted Justin [Kipkie],” said Parker.
“We were a pairing last season on the blue line in Victoria and our team has a lot of upside coming into next season.”
Victoria forward Ty Halaburda of the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants, out of the Juan de Fuca Minor Hockey Association and the Langford-based Pacific Coast Hockey Academy, was overlooked despite being ranked by Central Scouting as the 89th best North American skater available.
The selection of Kipkie and Parker, from a Royals team that has missed the WHL playoffs the past two seasons, shows that individual development progressed despite all the losing and that there is a glimmer of hope on Blanshard Street for next season.
“I was given an amazing opportunity, and lots of minutes, and I want to keep building on what I did in Victoria,” said Kipkie.
“I believe we are ready to take the next step as a team this coming season, especially if [fellow-Royals blue-liner and San Jose Sharks-signed] Gannon Laroque is returned to us by the Sharks.”
Kipkie pointed to a Royals blue line that now includes two NHL draft picks in himself and sa国际传媒 U-18 international Parker, former WHL draft top-10 pick Austin Zemlak, the emerging Nate Misskey and potentially Gannon.
“We are going to have a super strong blue line,” said Kipkie.
Stanley, meanwhile, will take his game to Cornell in the NCAA after leading the Grizzlies in points from the blue line with 38 in 53 games.
“The BCHL was a great league for me,” Stanley said in a statement released by the Senators.
“I was able to be in the weight room four times a week and have great practices. It was a great route for me and I’d recommend it to anyone.”
While Stanley is moving on from the Grizzlies, the Racquet Club of Victoria product Beckner is returning to the BCHL with the Silverbacks before going to NCAA Div. 1 at Colorado College in the fall of 2024. He may have fallen in the draft, after being ranked the 86th North American skater by Central Scouting, but realizes the draft is not the end point of the journey to pro but only the beginning.
“The real work begins now,” Beckner said in a statement.
“Getting drafted was a dream come true for myself and my family. I’ve been working my whole life for moments like this and to have it happen feels incredible.”
Stanley and Beckner were among nine BCHL players, recruits or alumni selected, led by former Grizzlies star Wood and fellow first-rounder Bradly Nadeau of the Penticton Vees.
Kipkie and Parker were among 33 WHL players selected, led by first overall pick Connor Bedard, and five other first-rounders.
The 2023 draftees now prepare to join other recent-years draftees for NHL prospects camps beginning this weekend and next week in what is the next step.
“You can’t be satisfied with being drafted. The job is not finished. I want to make this my career, my job,” said Parker.
