By Nathan Kanter

Former AAA Star Reid signs with Penticton Vees

May 31, 2017 | 2:00 PM

Former AAA Stars defenceman Luke Reid has signed with one of the most storied franchises in junior A hockey.

The 15-year-old will suit up for the British Columbia Hockey League champion Penticton Vees next season, after signing with the team following spring camp this past weekend.

“Skill-wise, I like his shot. I think he can get pucks to the net but I think the biggest thing about him is his demeanor, his mentality,” Vees head coach and general manager Fred Harbinson said over the phone on Wednesday morning. “Everybody says they want to be a hockey player at a young age but not everybody puts all the necessary work into it.

“[Reid] makes a committment on a daily basis to make sure that he’s eating the right things, he’s in the gym, and he’s working on his skillset even in the off-season. I think it’s going to be a great relationship between our hockey club and the entire Reid family.”

Reid, a native of Warman, Sask., will move out West with his mother, after spending the past two seasons with the Stars, where he compiled 38 points over two seasons in the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League.

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 1

12h ago

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

Battlefords Volleyball Club

13U BVC Impact take provincial silver in Warman

Apr 17, 2024

“He’s a player that we’ve watched for a long time,” Harbinson said. “There’s a lot of logistical things that went into having to see if he could even play for us here because of his birth year so it started before we even got him on the ice. We had to see if the parents were willing to move out here, which the mother is.”

Harbinson said puck-moving defenceman like Reid, especially those who shoot right, are in low supply.

“For his age, he’s very strong, very steady on the puck” Harbinson said. “He’s a right-handed defenceman that are hard to find right now.”

Reid will turn 16 in September and be one of the youngest players on the team, if not the youngest. The Vees have had young players step in before, such as last season with 15-year-old Massimo Rizzo. 

Harbinson said the adjustment is simply about a quicker pace and bigger opponents.

“The difference between midget and junior is just playing against heavier players on a nightly basis and playing the game at a higher pace,” he said. “We play a real fast game here. We try to play with a real puck possession type game and we think that he’s going to be able to fit in real well with us.”

Reid has already made a verbal committment to play for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in college, a NCAA Division I program, and he isn’t the only Vee set to head there after junior. New teammates Jonny Tychonick, a fellow defenceman, and rookie goaltender Adam Scheel are also committed to the program.

Last year’s Vees squad also sent two players to the same program, as former captain Nic Jones and defenceman Gabe Best will be Fighting Hawks this fall. 

The BCHL wasn’t the only destination Reid could have chosen. He was drafted by the Kindersley Klippers in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League draft and by the Sioux City Musketeers in the United States Hockey League draft, but opted to head to the west coast.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11