Five local hockey players are in the running for one of four $500 scholarships after having qualified for the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association’s 35th annual Midget Scholarship Tournament.
Ryan Brodowski, Jake Gobillot, Grant Murray, Trevor Pistilli, and Eric Blower will all be competing for the Fraser Valley Conference all-stars as they face the Greater Vancouver Conference all-stars at the tournament.
All five players belong to the Ridge Meadows Minor Hockey Association.
The local hockey club is hosting the tournament this year, which will take place May 17 at Pitt Meadows Arena.
The scholarship tournament is open to midget-level hockey players who have at least a 2.5 grade point average in their high school course, and who turn 17 this year.
The four $500 bursaries are provided by Vancouver Canucks Alumni Association and will be awarded to the player on each team judged to have “best exemplified excellence” during the course of the tournament.
Sportsmanship is also a key criteria, and any player who has been handed a match penalty or a gross misconduct this season is ineligible, as is any player with excessive penalty minutes.
The annual midget all-star tournament was founded in 1978 by Bruce Allison, then president of the PCAHA and later president of B.C. Hockey as a way to provide some encouragement to young hockey players to stay in their communities and complete high school.