By Carl Chimenti /
The Elite Prospect Showcase is an annual event that pits the best Canadian youth hockey players from the Atom to Midgets level, against their American counterparts.
The Showcase was the brainchild of both Don Harkins, general manager of the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets (USHL) and Jon Calvano, owner and director of the Pacific Sports Management and head coach of the North West Giants, who were both tired of traveling to tournament after tournament.
The sixth annual showcase took place this past spring (April 17 -20) at the Viking Arena, in Hazel Park, Michigan and featured some of the top Canadian talent with 1993 through 1998 birth years.
“It’s a good competition for the Canadian kids, who come from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and throughout Ontario, to play in this showcase. It has the very best talent from the ages of 10 to 15,” says Calvano who coached both the ’97 and ’98 Vipers in the showcase.
“What makes this good for our kids is that the showcase is limited to the amount of teams which brings better competition.”
Eleven teams represented Canada in addition to Calvano’s two teams. Ontario Red, Ontario Black and Western Canada were in the ’93 Division, while the ’94 Division consisted of Ontario Red ?and Black. The ’95 Team Ontario and the ’96 Team Ontario were the lone teams in the ’95 and ’96 Divisions respectively. The ’97 division also included ’97 Team Alberta and ’98 Team Ontario, was in the ’98 Division.
The Canadian teams were put together from a collection of the very best talent from their particular age group which is closely monitored throughout the hockey season.
“This is an individual-based tournament,” explains Calvano. “We bring in the best kids from teams in the area or regions, based on information from coaches such as myself, as well as various other coaches from the top Toronto markets to play in this event.”
Harkins says the showcase has featured some great talent, especially from the Bantam Majors level, over the six years of it’s existence.
“Eleven of the first 31 picks in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft played in our event,” says Harkins proudly. “We have had the likes of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Angelo Esposito play in this showcase.”
For more information and results, check out www.eliteprospectshockey.com |