Cole Reschny of the Victoria Royals continued burnishing his representative resume separate from club play. The forward from small-town Macklin began by representing his home province of Saskatchewan in the Canada Winter Games, Canada in the World Under-17 Challenge and last summer won gold with Canada in the Under-18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
The slippery forward, who leads the Royals in points and is ranked by TSN as 16th overall in the first round for the 2025 NHL draft, followed up Tuesday by being named to the Canadian Hockey League team that will play the U.S. Under-18 development team in the first Prospects Challenge games.
It is a planned annual event open to players eligible for that season’s NHL draft.
Reschny is among 10 of the 22 players from the Western Hockey League named to the team representing the CHL, the umbrella organization which encompasses the major-junior WHL, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The U.S. Under-18 program, meanwhile, has made an impressive impact in recent NHL drafts with players who go onto university hockey in the NCAA, before turning pro, and these head-to-head games will be telling tales of the Canadian versus U.S. way of developing hockey players.
The two-game set, to be played on Nov. 26 at Canada Life Place in London, Ont., and Nov. 27 at Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa, Ont., will be a one-stop shopping bonanza for NHL scouts.
ON THE ICE: Reschny had a goal and assist Tuesday night in Kamloops as the Royals (6-2-2) began a four-game road swing with a 6-3 loss in Kamloops against the Blazers (5-6-1) before 3,150 fans at the Sandman Centre.
Nanaimo product Brayden Boehm and Finnish import Markus Loponen scored the other Victoria goals. Nathan Behm had two goals on a six-point night for Kamloops.
Spencer Michnik and Jayden Kraus combined to make 27 saves in goal for the Royals and Dylan Ernst 24 for the Blazers.
Victoria continues the trip tonight in Kelowna against the Rockets (4-6) and in Prince George on Friday and Saturday against the Cougars (6-4-3).
The Royals will return to the Island for a four-game home stand against the defending WHL-champion Moose Jaw Warriors (3-6-2) on Nov. 1, Saskatoon Blades (8-2-1) on Nov. 3 and Kamloops on Nov. 5-6.
