The Powell River Kings have been known to have homegrown stars despite not having a big home to draw from – and it appears they have another.
The northern Sunshine Coast city (population: 19,000) and its Junior A team, which has produced the likes of former NHLer Brad Bombardir and one-time BCHL scoring ace Judson Innes, has a local lad leading the way once more this year in goaltender Sean Maguire, 18.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound puck stopper is a major reason why the Kings are among the top teams in the BCHL's Coastal Division six weeks into the campaign. He's played well enough, too, that he's on the Canada West all-star squad for the World Junior A Challenge, which gets started Monday at the Langley Events Centre.
The six-team tournament runs all week at the LEC, climaxing with the gold-medal game Sunday at 5 p.m.
"With Sean, we do know what we've got," said Kent Lewis, who is bench boss for both the Kings and the Canada West squad.
"He's very good athletically. We're really happy with Sean. We're really happy with Tyler [Biggs, the other Canada West goalie, from the AJHL's Lloydminster Bobcats]. It's a really good situation to be in."
Forget having insider information on him for this tournament. Lewis knows Maguire so well he could write his biography. He remembers Maguire being gifted in a variety of sports "as a little kid," and being "well liked by other kids, which is a nice thing when you're a goalie."
Maguire also might be able to bang off a few chapters on Lewis, who coached the Kings from 1990-98 and then started up this current term in 2005.
Maguire's family billeted Kings players when he was younger. They went to all the games they could. He started practising with the team when he was in bantam hockey, and it twigged for him then that he might be good enough to play for them one day.
So far this season, he's 4-3-1 for Powell River, with a 2.30 goals against average and a .910 save percentage.
"Our town is based around the sport, it's just hockey, hockey, hockey all the time," said Maguire.
Maguire is looking to leave town to play university, of course. He should get plenty of looks this week, as the tournament is a major showcase for NCAA schools.
There are the two teams from Canada, plus a squad of the best Junior A players from the U.S. Sweden, the Czech Republic and Russia round out the participants.
"I want to try to block it out," said Maguire of having eyes on him. "I want to focus on my game. I know we'll have a lot of people watching every game, but you need to just put it in the back of your mind.
"I want to go to a good school. I haven't decided anything yet. I'm just taking it dayby-day."
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