A pair of B鈥檚 hope to be buzzing in Victoria this fall.
The Victoria Grizzlies announced Monday they have signed two players from the Hamilton Kilty B鈥檚 of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
Highly-touted 17-year-old forward Ellis Rickwood and 19-year-old netminder Justin Easter, a conference all-star in the GOJHL this past season, are coming west to the sa国际传媒 Hockey League, and Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon couldn鈥檛 be happier as he starts to rebuild a team that was swept in the first round of the playoff this spring.
鈥淲e are thrilled to sign these two top-notch players,鈥� said Didmon, whose team, if all goes as planned post-COVID-19 pandemic, will open training camp on Sept. 1.
鈥淲e have been following Ellis and Justin for more than a year now and our scouts and myself expect them to be big additions to our hockey club.鈥�
Rickwood, who turns 18 in July, brings an offensive flair to the Grizzlies. He had an impressive rookie season in the GOJHL, racking up 17 goals and 45 assists in 50 regular-season games for the Kilty B鈥檚, who were early into the second round of their playoffs when their season was halted by the coronavirus.
Rickwood, who hails from Wayne Gretzky鈥檚 hometown of Brantford, Ont., was also selected in the first round (10th overall) of the OHL鈥檚 U-18 draft by the Peterborough Petes.
鈥淧eterborough showed a lot of interest, but I felt the sa国际传媒 Hockey League would be a better fit for me development-wise and my ultimate goal is to get an NCAA Div. 1 scholarship so I鈥檓 thrilled to be coming to a great organization like Victoria,鈥� said Rickwood, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 165 pounds.
Much like the most famous person from his hometown, Rickwood is a pass-first kind of player who sees the ice extremely well.
鈥淧assing is probably the strength of my game. I like to generate offence any way I can,鈥� said Rickwood, who came up through Brantford鈥檚 minor hockey teams, which are named 鈥� you guessed it 鈥� the 99ers.
鈥淥f course everyone in Brantford looks up to the Gretzkys and I was fortunate to grow up just a couple blocks from their house.鈥�
And these days, Rickwood has been inside his house a lot thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But he鈥檚 making the most of it.
鈥淚鈥檓 doing a lot of exercises inside and while I don鈥檛 have a lot of weights, the Grizzlies fitness trainer has sent me some great body-weight exercises to do so I鈥檓 staying in pretty good shape and hopefully we can get on the ice soon.鈥�
Goaltender Easter, who hails from Burlington, Ont., has been trying to get outside as much as possible to stay in shape.
鈥淚鈥檓 lucky to live close to a high school so I go down to the track and train and do a lot of cycling so it hasn鈥檛 been too bad,鈥� said Easter.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound netminder is coming off his best season of hockey. He played 30 regular season games while posting a 2.26 goals-against average and a league-best save percentage of .927. And he didn鈥檛 slow up in the post-season, posting a 1.50 GAA and .964 save percentage in six games.
鈥淚 was really happy with my season and especially in the playoffs when I was seeing 45 or 50 shots so I was disappointed when they told us we had to stop playing,鈥� Easter said.
鈥淎nd hopefully I can carry the momentum over to the Grizzlies because I hear great things about the team they鈥檙e building and the city and organization so I can鈥檛 wait to get out there.鈥�
The addition of Easter gives the Grizzlies two netminders now as Nanaimo native Blake Wood will be returning for his second season.
鈥淲e now have a great goaltending combo with two solid goaltenders who can both be No. 1s so we feel that鈥檚 an area of strength for us now,鈥� said Didmon.
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