For five years now the Vancouver Canucks have hosted an annual Young Stars tournament in Penticton, British Columbia in the sunny heart of wine country. 
It was a small event to begin with, but the Young Stars tournament has begun to morph into something a bit more interesting. Initially the prospects wore practice jerseys, and the games were only occasionally broadcast. Now the prospects wear full jerseys and every team live streams every game with huge viewership numbers. 
I was there for the first time this year, and enjoyed myself enormously. 30 degree weather, excellent wine, the general managers and head coaches (except Willie, of course) from all four teams attended, a bevy of top-10 picks. Good hockey, good food, good weather, good access – there was a lot to like.
Unfortunately, at least from the perspective of this hockey writer, it seems that the Young Stars tournament in Penticton may become an ‘every other year’ event. Or at at least the Penticton part of it will, according to a report from Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province.
From the triumphant return of the Provies last night:
Led by (Flames president Brian Burke), it is the Flames who are looking to shift the oh-so popular Young Stars tournament out of our backyard.
The rookie tournament has been crushing it in the south Okanagan since 2010. Packed rinks. Great atmosphere. And even beaches in a spot that’s part sleepy retirement community and part BC-resort town. It’s supremely run, and the rink and area is the perfect size which has allowed the Canucks to morph their rookie camp into a destination event.
Now, the Flames want a piece of this action. They would like to move the tournament to Red Deer and, it seems, there’s a good chance it’s going to be hosted there on a rotating basis.
Red Deer, the home of the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels, has a 6,000 capacity two-tired hockey arena called the the ENMAX Centrium, which would seem to be an appropriate spot to host the tournament. The city also has some local ties to Burke, who seems to speak annually at a Red Deer Chamber of Commerce event in the city.
This past year 41 percent of tickets sold at the Young Stars Tournament came from outside the Okanagan with 15 percent of tickets being purchased by Albertans, according to infonews.ca. Part of that’s the Connor McDavid bump, but with so many Albertans making the trip, I suppose it makes some sense for the Canucks to share the event with their Western Canadian neighbours from the other side of the Rockies.
“I think that there’s a real appetite to see (top prospects) and obviously Penticton does a great job of hosting it, the venue is amazing, and it’s a great place to come,” Canucks president Trevor Linden told me of the tournament when we chatted on the record in Penticton last month. “For us there’s a lot of value in that and we’re starting to get some critical mass in our prospect pool now, you fast forward a year, and a lot of the kids who are here now will be back next year. This is so important to us because this is our future right here.”
Between hosting the event – even if they may only host it every other year going forward – and having their own AHL affiliate, one thing we should note is that it’s clear that these days the Canucks have some world-class player-development tools at their disposal. That wasn’t the case even five years ago, which is a testament in some ways to the Canucks’ maturation as an organization.