Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN — Today, PLAY Hockey announced the acquisition of the World Hockey Group’s (WHG) North American and European events. The acquisition expands PLAY Hockey’s global youth hockey events in Europe and North America. With the addition of the WHG, PLAY Hockey is now proud to host guests at over 90 events each year in addition to operating over 400 youth hockey teams.
“This strategic acquisition allows us to align the two most prestigious youth hockey brands.” said Josh Thiem, President of PLAY Hockey. “This could not have been completed without the excellent work of our corporate development team that is constantly looking for opportunities to enhance our portfolio of hockey events, and by extension, the opportunities and experiences we are able to provide to players and families.”
The addition of the WHG will merge two prominent youth hockey tournaments hosted in Europe, the World Youth Championships and World Selects Invitational (WSI), creating the most elite youth hockey event in the world. PLAY Hockey is also proud to add the North American WSI hockey events to its roster.
“This allows us to expand global opportunities for elite youth hockey players and scale up experiences for players,” said Sergai Zak, World Selects Invitational general manager. “We will now be able to deliver even more valuable opportunities for players and their families across the world.”
About PLAY Hockey
PLAY Hockey Canada and its solely owned subsidiary PLAY Hockey USA which operates as PLAY Hockey owns and operates youth hockey events in countries worldwide including Canada, USA and Europe.
About the World Hockey Group
World Hockey Group specializes in sports tours and travel throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. We offer a wide variety of experiences which includes organizing a tailored sports tour for your specific needs. Players practice, compete against, and participate in fun activities with players from many different countries. Guests also tour their destination cities, taking in area attractions including museums, historic sites, and natural wonders.
Nearly 70 games are in the books at the 15U World Selects Invitational in Nashville. The tournament nears the halfway point, as playoff matchups will begin Friday afternoon and a champion ultimately crowned on Sunday. WHH takes a look at 10 teams with the best odds of winning the ’08 Elite world championship.
Disclaimer: This is purely for entertainment purposes only. We do not encourage sports betting on youth hockey games in any form.
 | Western Selects |  | 2-1 |
 | CCM Selects | | 3-1 |
 | Finland Selects |  | 3-1 |
 | ID Selects | | 5-1 |
 | Minnesota Blades | | 8-1 |
 | SKA Yunost |  | 8-1 |
 | Swiss Selects |  | 15-1 |
 | Minnesota Lakers | | 16-1 |
 | DevCo Hockey |  | 20-1 |
 | National Hockey Prospects | | 30-1 |
Led by a pair of Los Angeles Jr. Kings in Tyus Sparks, Logan Stuart and Noah Davidson, Western Selects comes in as the current front-runner through four games. Each Jr. King has scored at least three goals apiece, with Sparks leading the charge with seven points. They did fall 5-1 to another favorite on the list, Minnesota Blades.
CCM Selects has won, and won big in all four games so far. We talked about some of their standouts thus far, and they’ve continued to tear it up into Day 2. Through four games, their average margin of victory 7.75 goals. However, their opponent’s combined record in the tournament is 1-13-0.
Viljo Kahkonen and Oliver Torkki have shown out to be two of the most productive ’08s in the tournament. That duo has led Finland Selects to a 3-0-0 start, and has combined for 17 points; the team as a whole has scored 22 goals.
ID Selects is loaded with some of the top talent in the U.S. That includes forward Cam Nimmer whose fresh off of a national championship run. Michael Berchild leads the team with six points. That’s matched by defenseman A.J. Francisco who began the tournament with points in three straight games.
ID Selects will open up Friday morning action against SKA Yunost. That matchup could have significant playoff seeding implications as well.
As mentioned, Minnesota Blades did beat Western Selects on Thursday. Forward Riley Zupfer posted three points in the win for Minnesota. He leads the team in scoring with seven points, and factored in on half the Blades’ offense.
Want more coverage of the 2023 World Selects Invitational series? WHH is the exclusive media provider of all 12 WSI events, so be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube for the latest news!
Some of the top young prospects in youth hockey will converge on Toronto for the HHOF Future Legends Invitational. Established in 2017, this invite-only event was designed to showcase some of the top talent at the boys U12 age level and girls U13 age level.
The tournament is unique to youth hockey for a multitude of reasons. The main one being that upon arrival, individual players are unaware of what team they will be competing for in the tournament. It’s not until the opening ceremonies on Thursday afternoon, when players are ‘drafted’ onto evenly balanced teams. Those teams are named after iconic Hockey Hall of Famers such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, Nicklas Lidstrom, Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, among others.
Once assigned to a tournament team, players compete in four pool-play games before a single-elimination tournament starts on Saturday. In addition to playing high-level hockey against top competition, players are thrust into a locker room with new teammates. Former winter club teammates also transition to foes, as they compete against one another for the weekend.
The weekend’s festivities include a private viewing of the Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown Toronto. Participants can get an up close, intimate look at the Stanley Cup, and other historical pieces.
The Future Legends Invitational is still in its infancy, compared to the rich histories of The Brick Invitational (33 years) and PeeWee Quebec (62 years). In fact, some of the earliest participants from the Future Legends tournament have yet to reach NHL Entry Draft eligibility. However, that hasn’t stopped participants such as Michael Misa, Matthew Schaefer, Will Horcoff and Christian Humphries from forging a future in hockey.
After receiving exceptional status, Misa was selected first overall in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection as an ‘07 selected amongst players from the ‘06 birth year. One year later, Schaefer went first overall in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection. Both were standouts from the Future Legends Invitational in 2018. Another notable alumni from that year was the first overall pick in the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft, Gavin McKenna. The Yukon Territories native most recently set the record for most points scored in the Canada Winter Games. He’s scored 18 points in 16 WHL games already, and will play his first full season of junior hockey next fall.
In the States, Humphries was one of the top scorers this season for the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP). He was also a part of the inaugural Future Legends Invitational in 2017. One year later, Detroit native Will Horcoff would follow that path to Toronto for the invite-only showcase and compete against Misa, Schaefer, McKenna and others. More recently, one year later, Horcoff is set to follow in Humphries’ wake again to the USNTDP next fall.
Almost 200 of the top 2011-born boys youth hockey players will be in Toronto for the Future Legends Invitational. Roughly 100 girls from the same birth year, and 160 boys from the 2012 birth year will also compete in their respective age groups. Draft ceremonies are slated to begin Thursday, with off-ice combine testing and games to start shortly after.
Girls division games begin at 8 a.m. EST on Friday, while both boys divisions get underway on Thursday afternoon. All games are available to watch on HNLive.ca. Players will participate in on- and off-ice testing, meant to replicate the experience that prospects undergo during the NHL Combine. The Future Legends Invitational is an all-encompassing experience for youth hockey players to feel like the pros. Draft ceremonies, combine testing, elite-level games and exclusive tours of the Hockey Hall of Fame make this a must for top-level youth hockey players.
World Hockey Hub will have exclusive coverage of the HHOF Future Legends Invitational throughout the weekend. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube!
The best 2008-born youth hockey players in the world took to the ice at the 15U World Selects Invitational on Wednesday. Thirty-four teams from 12 countries squared off in Nashville, Tennessee, for the 14th annual WSI. Teams began pool play with two games each on the opening day of the tournament.
In 12 hours, more than 30 games went down across three rinks in the Music City. A lot of action crammed into a short amount of time saw plenty of standout performers. Canada’s Alex McLean, American-born Cooper Soller and Finnish forward Viljo Kahkonen were among those to make an early statement on the international stage.
Coming into the tournament, CCM Selects were one of the early favorites to perform well at the 15U WSI. Alex McLean being on the roster was one of the reasons for that, after scoring 112 points for the 14U Pittsburgh Penguins Elite this past season. He delivered in a big way in the first game of the tournament, with a six-point performance in a 12-3 win over Toronto Elite Hockey.
That game was the largest margin of victory among all contests on opening day. While CCM Selects were certainly thought of as a top team in the field, the dominant win validated just that.
Their second game of the day came against another North American-based program in Top Speed Hockey. And again, provided little resistance as CCM rolled to a 9-1 win. Defenseman Zach Nyman was a standout on the No. 1 ranked Vaughan Kings this season. He proved why with back-to-back three-point performances as a major factor in both wins for CCM Selects.
With 21 goals in just the first two games of the tournament, CCM Selects players dominate the scoring leaderboard. McLean, Nyman, Maximus Crete, Avry Antsis and Rudolfs Berzkalns are all among the top producers at the WSI thus far.
For as dominant of wins as CCM Selects has had in its first two games, there have been plenty of tight contests out of the gate.
A matchup between the Carolina Whalers and Kazakhstan Selects was just that, tied 3-3 with under 10 minutes to play in regulation. Then, Cooper Soller struck not once but twice in the waning moments to give the Whalers a 5-3 victory. Soller factored in on all five goals scored in the win, plus an assist in their 5-2 loss earlier in the day. The 5-foot-9 forward is no stranger to producing offense; he scored 31 goals and 76 points for the No. 1 ranked team in the U.S., Shattuck-St. Mary’s this season.
Factoring in on six of his team’s seven goals, no other player in the tournament has accounted for more of his team’s offense so far than Soller.
Viljo Kähkönen split time this past season playing up an age group for HIFK’s U16 team. The other half, he spent playing up even further with the club’s U18 team. It didn’t matter where he played, he produced, with 10 goals and 29 points in 29 games between the two rosters. It should come as no surprise that now playing against the best of his 2008 birth year, Kähkönen continues to produce at an impressive clip.
In Finland Selects’ first game of the tournament Kähkönen scored a pair of goals and assisted on two more. That led to a dominant 7-0 win over DraftDay Red. Him and fellow HIFK teammate Oliver Torkki could prove to be an impressive tandem at the WSI. Torkki was one of the leading scorers at the U16 age group in Finland this season. He picked up a pair of points alongside Kähkönen as well.
DraftDay Black got a 28-save performance out of Andrew McLouth in Game 1 of the WSI. They needed every one of those stops against ALPS Selects as Noah Barton scored the game-winning goal with 4:08 left in regulation. The 2-1 final was one of 14 games decided by two goals or less on the opening day of action.
McLouth is a 5-foot-11 goaltender who played for HoneyBaked this season. His showing in net was one of the better performances on Day 1, fueling a DraftDay Black victory.
He wasn’t the only one to steal a victory for his team. Andover, Minnesota native, Cash Cruitt stopped 24-of-25 shots faced against Pro Hockey White. That helped his Minnesota Blades team get out to a 1-0-0 start to the tournament with a 4-1 win despite being out-shot 25-20 in the contest.
Other standouts in net include Kazkhstan Selects Arseniy Kuchkovskiy, who’s stopped 37-of-40 shots in two games. ALPS Selects goaltenders Lenny Oppikofer and Nicolas Arcilla strung together back-to-back games of 24 and 25 saves. Each have allowed just two goals against, however, ALPS was unable to win either of those games despite the strong showings in net.
The 11-team 16U World Selects Invitational is running concurrent to the 15U tournament in the Music City this week. After six games on Day 1, NorthStar Elite Green sits comfortably in first place. A pair of goals from Cruz Martin helped NorthStar to a 6-1 win over Black Bear Selects. Black Bear was the lone team to play two games on opening day. They fell to Performance Hockey 5-1 as well.
Of the six games on Day 1, three were decided by two goals or fewer. TPH Selects and DevCo Hockey needed a shootout to settle their 2-2 tie. Michael Zajac’s goal, as well as Marcus Johnson’s three stops, were the difference in the shootout for TPH Selects.
Tournament action continues Thursday with 10 pool-play games.
Want more coverage of the World Selects Invitational? Visit our WSI Hub or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube for the latest news!
The U14 Girls World Selects Invitational kicked off on Wednesday in Chamonix, France. Twelve teams from nine countries are competing for the chance to be crowned world champions. All participating teams have two games under their belts after the first day of action. Here’s some of the biggest headlines out of the tournament thus far.
The Sweden Selects made a major statement in their first two contests of the preliminary round. Facing off against Midwest Prospects and Draft Day — two North American-based clubs — Sweden outscored them both by a combined 10-2. A major reason for that offensive explosion was the dependable two-way play of Ebba Hesselvall. Facing a 1-0 deficit after the first period against Midwest, Emma Holmberg tied things up 18 seconds into the second. Hesselvall would score her first two goals following that to secure a 3-1 win. Not done there, Hesselvall kicked off the scoring in the club’s second game of the day; an eventual 7-1 win over DraftDay. She would add three assists as well, ending the day atop the leaderboard with three goals and six points.
If the Sweden Selects were all about offense, France was all about defense in its first two matchups of the U14 WSI. Italy Selects and Pro Hockey squads were unable to solve the incredibly tight defense of France, as both were shutout 2-0. Italy was only able to produce three shots on goal, while Pro Hockey managed 14. Of the seven players to record at least one point thus far, three hailed from the dependable blue line corps of France. Leana Galibert, Domitille Ratto and Naïs Vala Viaux all collected assists. Adding to the team’s scoring depth are Maëlie Moussier and Gabrielle Roussel. Both forwards are tied for the team lead in points with two apiece.
The North American Prospects were down 2-1 in the second period to the Finland Selects and needed a big play to even the score. Just over three minutes after Finland’s second goal, Jaiden Krushelniski found the back of the net to tie the game. That pushed the game to overtime, where Krushelniski would again beat goaltender Peppi Kontio for her second goal of the game. That secured the victory for North American Prospects.
In the team’s second game against Swiss Selects, Krushelniski kicked off the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period. She would add her fourth of the tournament with an insurance goal in the second period to complete a 3-0 shutout win. One of the best goal scorers so far, it will be interesting to see how long Krushelniski can continue her torrid scoring rate.
World Hockey Hub will have continued coverage of the Girls U14 World Selects Invitational! Follow WHH on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube for the latest news, updates and more!
Following a solid showing at the U15 Ontario Hockey Federation championships, the 2008-born Soo Jr. Greyhounds carved out a spot in the Top 10 for the first time this season. Skating to a 6-1-1 record, they handled most teams they faced, including No. 3 Elgin-Middlesex Canucks. But it was two matchups against No. 1 Vaughan Kings that allowed them to stand out. In their first meeting, the Jr. Greyhounds bested the Kings 2-0. In a rematch with the championship on the line, Vaughan regained its form to shut out Soo 4-0. Still, a solid showing with two wins against ranked opponents gave the Soo enough of a jolt to crack the top-tier Canadian of their birth year.
Since April 15th, the Toronto Marlboros have collected three massive victories to propel them into the ‘11 Canadian Top 10. With a 6-5 win over No. 2 Toronto Jr. Canadiens and a two-game sweep of No. 10 Toronto Nationals, the Marlboros made a statement among fellow Ontario programs. Going back to the beginning of the month, the Marlboros have faced off with the Jr. Canadiens three times before their most recent win. In those matchups, the Marlboros went 1-1-1. In the two battles with the Nationals, the Marlboros outscored them 12-5.
Coming in as winners of their past two contests, the SKA Silver Lions made the jump from No. 5 to No. 4 with victories over SKA Strelna and Dynamo St. Petersburg. Back on April 1st, Strelna edged past the Silver Lions in overtime, setting the stage for a rematch between the two on April 15th. Resulting in a 5–3 win, the Silver Lions leapfrogged Strelna among the Russian ‘06 Top 10.
With No. 5 CSKA Moscow idle, SKA St. Petersburg nabbed two victories to move up to No. 4 among 2008-born teams in Russia. One of those wins — a shootout victory against No. 10 SKA Strelna — continued a current four-game winning streak for the team as well. St. Petersburg has been one of the most consistent teams this season, currently sitting with a 41-0-2 record. Before a 3-2 overtime loss to Dynamo St. Petersburg on April 1st, you would have to go all the way back to January 11th to find SKA’s last loss.
Another team reaping the benefits of a major win against a fellow ranked club was the ‘11 Markham Majors. A matchup with the Sun County Panthers in the U13 All-Ontario Championships had significant tournament and rankings implications on the line. Following a scoreless first period, Markham would strike three times in the second frame to take a 3-1 lead into the third period. Justin Boudreau netted his second goal of the game to secure the 4-1 final. The Majors would go on to finish 7-0-1 with a championship and a new No. 2 spot among the Top 10 in the country. Sun County, who finished 3-4-1, dropped to No. 3.
Be sure to check out the complete world rankings, including Top 10s by country and World Top 25s for each of the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 birth years.
The 2023 World Selects Invitational spring series of events begins on Wednesday, with the ’08 WSI Elite tournament getting underway in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. More than 500 of the top prospects from the 2008 birth year will compete in the six-day event. Participants will represent 12 different countries, as they compete across 30 select teams assembled specifically for this tournament.
This tournament series dates all the way back to 2009, when names like Alexander Barkov, Filip Forsberg and Radek Faksa debuted on the youth hockey scene. Them, along with 650 other WSI tournament alumni have gone on to be selected in the NHL Draft over the past 10 years. This year, North American prospects like Michael Berchild, Caleb Malhotra and Ethan Garden look to make their mark on international youth hockey. Additionally, top Euros like Oliver Torkki, Arvid Ermeskog and Vladimir Provorov will make the trek across the Atlantic to go toe-to-toe with North America’s best.
Last year, Ryan Roobroeck broke the tournament record for points with 28 in nine games. Twelve months later, he’s projected to be a Top-5 pick in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection. His teammate in the WSI last spring, Gavin McKenna, went on to be the first overall selection in the 2022 WHL Draft. Together, they led Pro Hockey to the 15U championship against an International Stars team that was loaded with top American-born prospects. So much so that seven players from the Stars’ roster were just named to the 2023-24 U.S. National Team Development Program roster.
Bottom line, the WSI regularly serves as a launching point for top prospects in youth hockey.
Still dealing with the fallout of COVID-19 last spring, the 2022 tournament only featured five European teams. Travel restrictions and difficulties kept others from making the trip overseas. This spring, that number is expected to double, as teams from Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech, Slovakia and Kazakhstan will be in attendance. The Ford Ice Centers in Nashville will be packed with wall-to-wall action all week and WHH will have exclusive coverage of all the action.
The province of Ontario will be well represented in the Music City. In fact, 20 players from five of the Top-10 teams in the country are expected to be on hand for the ’08 WSI. The No. 1 ranked ‘08 team in the world, Vaughan Kings, will have five players competing for two different teams. Two of their top scorers, Caleb Malhotra and Zach Nyman will skate for CCM Selects. Their regular-season teammate and goaltender Joseph D’Angelo will suit up for opposing team Carolina Whalers; he is one of five Canadians playing for the U.S.-based select team.
Some other top performers from Ontario includ Maximus Crete, Bryson Morgan and Nikolas Rossetto. They were among the top scorers at the U15 All-Ontario Championships earlier this month. Goaltenders Cameron Ingram and Colin Elsworth were also impressive in that tournament with 1.00 and 1.50 goals-against averages respectively.
There is a plethora of American talent expected as well. Each of the top nine teams in the country will be represented by multiple players. Some of the more notable being No. 1 Shattuck-St. Mary’s leading scorer Michael Berchild. He finished the ‘22-23 season with 106 points; the fourth-most among ‘08s in the country. J.P. Hurlbert III led all U.S. skaters with 195 points in 75 games. Him and Berchild will be teammates at the ’08 WSI for ID Selects.
Lukas Zajic and Camden Nimmer will also skate for ID Selects. They were among some of the top performers at USA Hockey Nationals earlier this month. They also went head-to-head in the national title game, as Nimmer and his Bishop Kearney Selects took home gold.
The last time a European team won the North American WSI, Oliver Wahlstrom, Rasmus Sandin and Ryan Merkley were playing for Sweden Selects. Wahlstrom is in his third season for the New York Islanders. Sandin just finished his second season in the NHL with the Washington Capitals. Merkley made his NHL debut for the San Jose Sharks last season.
None of those three will be able to help Sweden claim World Selects gold in Nashville this week. However, players like Arvid Ermeskog, Salim Ismailov and Fabian Merkle-Rohdin certainly could.
Ermeskog is a standout forward for the No. 1 ranked team in Sweden, Nacka HK. He led the Sweden Hockey Trophy in scoring last fall with 11 points in seven games. Ismailov finished closely behind with 10 points for Flemingsbergs IK. On top of that, Merkle-Rohdin was a top performer at the U15 DIF Elitcup in September as well. He scored 14 points in that tournament for HV71. He also spent 23 games playing up an age level with the club’s U16 team.
Speaking of under-agers, Oliver Torkki and Jiko Laitinen were among some of the top scorers in Finland’s U16 SM-Series this season. Playing amongst competition where 85 percent of the players were older than these two ‘08s, Torkki and Laitinen finished third and fourth in points. Torkki scored 33 goals and 77 points in 39 games for HIFK. Laitinen finished with 76 points in 40 games. They will certainly be a force for Finland Selects at the ’08 WSI.
While he maintains dual citizenship being born in Tampa, Florida, Alex Theodore played the ‘22-23 season for the U15 Pilsen Wolves. He led the team in scoring with 53 points in 34 games. He also scored 16 points in 10 games with the club’s U17 team as well. Teammate Ben Reisnecker is another standout performer from Central Europe. From the blue line, Reisnecker scored 63 points in 47 games between the Wolves’ U15 and U17 teams as well. The pair will likely lead the Czech Knights’ offensive attack this week in Nashville.
In addition to the 2008 Elite event in Nashville, two other tournaments get underway this week as well. The U14 Girls event begins on Wednesday as well, hosted in Chamonix, France. Additionally, the 2011 AAA tournament kicks off from Bolzano, Italy, on Thursday.
Twelve girls teams from nine different countries will compete for the U14 championship. Czech Selects won the tournament last year. That snapped a three-year run of North American teams winning gold.
DraftDay, Minnesota Prospects, Premier Ice Prospects (PIP) Hockey and Pro Hockey will travel across the Atlantic to represent the U.S. and Canada. Select teams from Czech, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland will make the field of teams at the U14 tournament one of the most diverse among WSI events this spring.
The 2011 AAA tournament — open to all AAA-level players — consists of 13 teams from as many as nine different countries. It is the first of three WSI events to take place in the city of Bolzano.
Want more coverage of the World Selects Invitational? WHH is the exclusive media provider of the tournament series and will have continued coverage of the events on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube!
The Ontario Hockey League (OHL) conducted its annual 2023 Priority Selection, consisting of 2007-born youth hockey prospects. Players eligible to be selected must be from the province of Ontario. Or, American-born players from as far north as Michigan and Wisconsin, as far east as New York, and as far west as Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. In total, 300 players would be selected from 79 different youth hockey organizations.
Projected to go first overall, Matthew Schaefer did in fact go to the Erie Otters with the top pick. He was the first of 12 Halton Hurricanes to be selected over the weekend. The top teams represented in the OHL Priority Selection coincidentally correlated to the top five teams ranked in the country. What’s that mean? The No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Canada — Toronto Marlboros and Toronto Jr. Canadiens — also produced 15 draft picks per team. The No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 ranked teams followed in order as well. Peterborough Petes had 13 players called, while Halton had a dozen. Then, York-Simcoe Express rounded it out with 11 players selected.
Just weeks after winning the U16 OHL Cup and being named tournament MVP, Jake O’Brien went eighth overall to Brantford. His JRC teammates Luca Romano and Nico Addy went in the first round as well.
A Marlboros player didn’t come off the OHL Priority Selection board until the 15th pick, when Jeremy Martin went to the Flint Firebirds. It’s the first time since 2008 that a player from the Marbloros wasn’t selected in the top ten picks. Despite the delay, however, 14 other players including William Moore, Kieran Witkowski and Luke Dragusica would go in the 11 rounds.
With two first-round picks, Niagara doubled down on centers, taking highly-touted prospect Ryan Roobroeck at No. 2 and Mississauga Rebels’ Ethan Czata with the No. 5 pick. As the second overall pick, Roobroeck becomes the highest London Jr. Knights player to be selected since Ryan Suzuki went first overall in 2017.
Forty-eight players were selected from U.S.-based organizations. None produced more than Little Caesars, with nine selections. They’ve been the No. 1-ranked ’07 team in the world for much of the ‘22-23 season. Three of its players made the U.S. National Team Development Program’s (USNTDP) U-17 team for next fall. That didn’t stop the Saginaw Spirit from selecting a pair of Caesars players in Charlie Tretheway (96th overall) and Will Horcoff (98th overall). In total, seven players selected to the NTDP would also be selected in the OHL Priority Selection over the weekend.
Want more coverage of junior hockey drafts this off-season? Be sure to follow WHH on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Discord and YouTube!
In May of 2022, the day started like any other for Kade O’Rourke, a 2011-born youth hockey player from Round Rock, Texas. Kade and his father, Dave, were training in Dallas preparing to leave for a tournament in Pittsburgh while Kade’s mother, Kristy, was back home. In the days leading up to the tournament, Dave and Kristy had begun to notice changes in Kade’s behavior. He was thirsty often. They found him drinking large amounts of liquid to stay hydrated in between numerous trips to the bathroom.
“Kade was waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which is obviously not normal for a kid his age,” said Kristy. “But Dave was up in Dallas with him at the time, so I wasn’t seeing Kade every day. I would just hear about it when we would FaceTime at dinner.”
Dave and Kristy continually had discussions about whether there might be something more serious going on with Kade. One theory questioned if it could be his sugar levels, or something more serious. Dave and Kade went back home for a weekend before the tournament, but the thought of this being a larger medical issue continued to weigh on Kristy’s mind. While Dave was having a discussion with a family friend — who was a surgeon — he was questioned if Kade was losing a visible amount of weight.
“I wasn’t sure if he was dropping weight or not, so we had him go weigh himself after he changed to go swimming and he had lost nine pounds in two months,” said Kristy.
She immediately called Kade’s primary care physician to schedule an appointment in the hopes of getting to the bottom of what could be happening with her son.
Weight loss, especially the amount that Kade had dropped despite being athletic and physically active, was a big surprise. Bells and whistles of a mother’s intuition began to go off in Kristy’s head. That’s not normal. This isn’t right. Something’s wrong. When she called to get her son an appointment with the doctor, the clinic’s earliest available opening wasn’t for nearly a week. Not good enough. Eventually, the operator on the other end of Kristy’s phone managed to squeeze them in for an appointment the following Monday morning.
“We were [at the doctor] for two minutes and they’re like, ‘You have to go to the hospital right now,’” Kristy said. “If we had waited until that Tuesday, Kade might have ended up in the ICU. He might have been in D-K-A, which is diabetic ketoacidosis. His blood was point-one away from being admitted to the I-C-U. If your blood P-H value hits seven or below the doctors said you are admitted to the I-C-U and he was at seven-point-one. Another twenty-four hours? He could have been admitted.”
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition that develops when the human body can’t produce enough insulin. Insulin plays a key role in helping sugar enter the cells in the body. Without enough insulin, the body begins to break down fat as fuel. Hence, the reason for Kade’s unexpected weight loss, rampant thirst and frequent bathroom trips.
Some parents might chalk up early warning signs to just working hard, or normal fatigue for a child playing youth hockey at a high level.
“My fault was just being that tough guy,” said Dave. “‘Oh he’s fine, he’s fine, he’s working hard, ready for the tournament. He’s just working hard.’ I mean all credit goes to Kristy for forcing us to go to the doctor when we did.”
From one youth hockey mother to the masses, Kristy believes it’s important to ‘trust your gut’ in these situations. Don’t ignore the warning signs and keep pushing until there’s an answer. But Kade’s doctors did not diagnose the condition right away, leaving Kristy and Dave to continue to wonder what could be wrong with their son.
Left in limbo, whether it’s for a day, a month or longer, the mind of a worrying parent can spiral quickly.
“It is frightening what runs through your mind, you know, as a parent when you kind of are faced with that situation,” said Kristy.
The family immediately transitioned from the primary care doctors to Dell Children’s Medical Center as directed. They swung back by their home on their way, preparing for a lengthy stretch in the waiting room. Kade grabbed his iPad to keep himself occupied, maybe a snack or two to tide over a nagging appetite. The O’Rourke’s were ready to settle in for a few hours in uncomfortable waiting room chairs and HGTV on a nearby television. When the automatic doors opened up at the medical center, however, they got a much different experience.
“We literally got there and there were people waiting for us,” said Dave. “They didn’t know how [Kade] was walking. We sat down on the bed and they told us he was going straight to the I-C-U. And we needed to plan who went with him.”
With no family history of diabetes, or friends who dealt with it, it was going to be a crash course in learning about the autoimmune disease for the family. In the process, a ‘new normal’ would be established for the O’Rourke’s.
“I didn’t know the difference between Type 1 and Type 2,” said Dave. “I thought, ‘Oh we’ll just fix this with diet’ and you know, we’ll get through this and things like that. But we were completely clueless.”
Type 1 diabetes — Kade’s diagnosis — is a chronic condition, meaning he will likely have to manage it for the rest of his life. Management includes frequent glucose tests to check his blood sugars, administering insulin injections, monitoring his diet and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Kade was later admitted to Dell Children’s, where a team of educators had an entire protocol set out for the family. They provided a series of classes that gave the O’Rourke’s a wealth of information, packed into eight hours.
Mom and dad were slowly coming to grips and understanding the magnitude of the situation. When a medical professional walked in and asked Kade how he was doing, his response would jolt Kristy.
“I just asked [the doctor] if I was going to be able to play hockey again,” said Kade. “That’s when it kind of hit me.”
After all, he was the one thrust into a funny blue gown that tied in the back. He was the one laying in an uncomfortable, strange bed in an unfamiliar room. He was the one poked with a needle and administered an IV drip of insulin. Lying there confused while doctors and parents exchanged questions and answers like a volley in a tennis match. A lot for a 10-year-old to process.
“It was just scary because I didn’t know what was happening,” he said. “I was scared and crying, wondering if I would be able to play hockey again. So I was nervous.”
The short answer was yes. Kade would be able to play youth hockey again.
The long answer? It’s going to take a lot of trial and error. Days, weeks, months to figure out how to manage Kade’s blood sugar levels during strenuous exercise such as practices, games and workouts. Even then, the approach to managing his insulin could change by the day, if not the hour. Kade could certainly play hockey again, but not without a total team effort and buy-in from family, friends, teammates and coaches.
Once Kade was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, it was time for Dave and Kristy to begin to understand the scope of what goes into taking care of a child with this illness.
“They pack everything that you need to know to keep your kid alive,” said Kristy. “You have that eight-hour window of education and then they send you home and you have to know how to keep your kid alive.”
On top of that, a glucose monitor was placed on Kade right away to track his blood sugar levels at all times. The pre-teen saw it as an impromptu show-and-tell opportunity with his friends. Him and his buddies huddled around, fascinated by an electronic device monitoring what’s going on in his body in real-time.
“I just don’t know how people did it before technology,” said Kristy. “But it was overwhelming and you have to learn so much in a short amount of time before your child leaves the hospital. It was very nerve-racking but they were fantastic at the hospital.”
It was education that not only had to be done by Kade and his parents, but extended family members as well. Siblings, grandparents, anyone in the immediate circle took part in an orientation course where the whole family learned what Kade, Kristy and Dave were educated on.
None of them would be on the ice with Kade though.
Coaches, teammates, even the parent group of Kade’s new team — the 2011 Toronto Jr. Canadiens — needed to have a baseline understanding of the disease.
“I knew that it would be a challenging time for Kade and his family but I also had no doubt that he had the strength and determination to persevere,” said head coach Bryan Cameron. “It was important for myself and the J-R-C family to be a support system for Kade and the O’Rourkes.”
‘JRC family’ is right. Perhaps the most special thing for Cameron was to see how Kade’s teammates adjusted to help their newfound brother in youth hockey.
“As a team we place the utmost importance on the health and well-being of our players before anything else,” said Cameron. “Everyone responded in a supportive and caring way when they found out about Kade’s diagnosis, and made it a priority to educate themselves so they could be helpful in any way possible. I’ve noticed many acts of kindness from the kids on a day-to-day basis such as helping out with monitoring his sugar levels while he’s on the ice, and participating in fundraisers.”
Hockey is one of the more unique communities in all of sports. It’s like an unspoken fraternity. Whether its players, coaches or parents, there’s an instant bond formed when you cross paths with a stranger. Very few outside the sport understand the challenges and struggles, triumphs and memories. The long car rides to the rink. Weekend tournaments. Mini-sticks in the hotel hallways. Smelly gear. Moms wrapped up in blankets sitting on metal bleachers. Dads lined along the glass of the offensive zone. Conversations completely change when, “Oh, I play hockey too!” or “What age level do you coach?” and, “We’re heading to (insert far away city) here for a tournament.”
So when the O’Rourke’s were thrust into a crash course on insulin, glucose levels and dietary restrictions, the hockey community was there to help. His new team provided an invaluable support system during this transitory phase. One that even included inactive goalies on the bench monitoring his glucose while Kade was on the ice for a shift. Additionally, fellow teammate Markus Maier would be a conduit to another valuable resource for the O’Rourke’s.
“My nephew and Kade play on the same hockey team,” said Deborah Maier, founder of GoodieGoodies Organic. “My brother was having Kade and his parents over one weekend and asked me to make some desserts everyone could have.”
Maier is a scientist, educator and entrepreneur in the wellness and sports performance industries.
This introduction would be a game changer for the O’Rourke’s.
Over the next few months, Maier became a close family confidant that they would lean on frequently. Maier believes that with a case like Kade’s, it is not just about changing the foods that go into the body. It’s about understanding that maintaining a good diet is just one aspect of healthy living. In a sense, all aspects of healthy living are like wheels on a car, all working together.
“With Kade, I definitely focused on nutrition fundamentals and continuing education,” said Maier. “All my programs start with biological fundamentals. The body is a closed system, meaning all parts affect other parts. Nutrition has many components itself: eating, digestion, absorption and elimination. We need all these aspects to work together in balance for optimal performance. Any one aspect can prevent the other factors from functioning.”
Kade was a medical marvel. Doctors were befuddled by his body’s natural ability to handle Type 1 diabetes in his current form. When he originally came into the hospital, Kade’s blood sugar levels were in the 400s. Medical professionals say kids his age would usually be lethargic and unable to skate. Meanwhile, Kade unknowingly was on the ice for two-and-a-half hours a day and exercised frequently.
For a youth hockey player like Kade, Dave said the biggest adjustment was when to administer insulin around games.
“When you’re into what they call the ‘honeymoon phase’, that’s when the adrenaline is pumped up, so Kade is still producing some insulin,” he said. “He would go into a game or even a practice and his blood levels would go up. Well, when they go up, you have to give insulin. So he would come off the ice and we would give him an injection.”
Coming off the ice, however, there’s a natural downward trend for Kade. That meant his levels would come down at the same time he was being issued insulin. The first couple weeks back at the rink became a risky game of trial and error.
‘How much insulin do we give him?’
‘What’s the right calculation?’
‘How to approach multiple games in a day versus just a practice?’
That, and much more as the O’Rourke’s tried to navigate their new normal with a new team, no less.
One trick that helped was developing some hand signals that could be seen during the game while on the bench. for example, holding up three fingers meant Kade needed to take three sugar tabs or gummies after a shift. Pointing to the tip of your finger meant he needed to test his blood sugars between periods.
During games, a phone was set next to the non-playing goalie. That player would call out Kade’s levels to him as he came off the ice . That helped him know where he was at and what, if anything, he needed to do. Go-to snacks that worked well? Applesauce pouches, sugar tabs and gummies, Kind Bars and miniature Snickers bars. Tools like Follow App, Sugarmate and Sugar Pixel have also been extremely useful.
In the summer of 2022, Kade made the move from the Dallas Stars Elite program to the Toronto Jr. Canadiens. Moving to Canada was a significant transition both on and off the ice, aside from the adjustment taking place in his life with Type 1 diabetes.
The Jr. Canadiens play in one of, if not, the most competitive youth hockey league in North America; the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL). Seventy-eight alumni were on opening-night rosters when the 2022-23 NHL season began last October. Connor McDavid, Ryan O’Reilly, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Tyler Seguin… The list of former players reads more like NHL All-Star announcements, and they all got their start in the GTHL. Not only was Kade moving halfway across the continent with a newly discovered chronic illness, the level of play on the ice was fixing to ramp up as well.
“I’ve always had my eye on him as a player and when I was informed about the potential of his family relocating to Toronto for hockey, I knew our program would be pivotal in continuing his development and success in the sport,” said Cameron. “I knew Kade was the missing piece we were looking for and was happy to help with the adjustment.”
As a standout defenseman, Kade helped the Jr. Canadiens to a 67-6-3 record. They finished second in the GTHL during the regular season. Unfortunately, they were eliminated in the semifinals of the playoffs by the Toronto Marlboros. Still, Kade’s JRC squad would rank as high as second in the World Rankings as one of the best 2011-born teams in youth hockey.
With invaluable resources offered up from former teammates, as well as total buy-in from their current squad, Dave, Kristy and Kade look to help others in need. A youth hockey community that has been so good to them in such a short time, they now extend a helping hand to others in similar situations.
Kade O’Rourke from the Toronto Jr Canadiens stopped by practice today & got to join the boys in a lil’ shoot out practice.
— y – Milwaukee Admirals (@mkeadmirals) March 21, 2023
You should probably watch until the end. 👀 pic.twitter.com/PiHwwdgxPH
They launched KadeORourke.com in an effort to educate people on Type 1 diabetes, as well as the Team24 fundraiser. It’s also a direct line to the O’Rourke’s who hope to help others in the youth hockey community dealing with the disease.
“We just hope this helps out other families dealing with something like this,” said Dave. “One family, one single mom, one single dad, one kid. We’re pretty blessed with Kade’s teammates helping and his coaching staff and dietitians. We’re a very blessed family that we have an unbelievable village supporting us. But, you know, there are a lot of people that don’t have that village. So if we can just help anybody out there and say ‘It’s gonna be okay’, then that’s worth it.”
Kade hopes to one day play Division-1 college hockey at the University of Michigan and ultimately, the NHL. He draws inspiration from current NHL players such as Max Domi, Kappo Kakko and Luke Kunin. All three manage diabetes while playing hockey at its highest level. Only further proving that this disease can’t hold Kade back from achieving his dreams.
For more information on how Kade and his family manage Type 1 diabetes while playing youth hockey, visit KadeORourke.com!
On Tuesday, the Sioux Falls Stampede announced Matthew Grimes had signed a tender agreement for the 2023-24 season. The move means Sioux Falls will forgo its first-round pick in the 2023 USHL Phase-I Draft in order to acquire Grimes’ player rights. In turn, Grimes will play at least 55 percent of the team’s games next season.
Grimes was a standout defenseman for Mount this season, scoring 13 goals and 56 points in 63 games. Four points came at 15O USA Hockey Nationals, before being eliminated by champion Los Angeles Jr. Kings in the quarterfinals.
He’s a 5-foot-10 left-hand shot from Locust Valley, New York. Grimes is just the third player in Sioux Falls history to sign a tender agreement. He’s also the fourth player from the 2007 birth year to sign a USHL tender agreement this season. Masun Fleece signed with Fargo Force two weeks ago. The Dubuque Fighting Saints signed Liam Kilfoil and Lev Katzin signed with the Green Bay Gamblers.
Tender agreements are used when USHL teams identify prospects they believe can have an immediate impact in their lineup next fall. They can sign as many as two players to a tender, but in the process, will have to surrender draft picks. The final day for USHL teams to sign prospects to a tender agreement is April 29th. The Phase-I Draft will take place on May 2nd, with the Phase-II Draft following on the next day.
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