Before Sherwood Park’s Landon Horiachka went in the third round of the Western Hockey League Draft to the Vancouver Giants, he was taking part in Hockey Alberta’s Prospects Cup in 2022 with North Blue.
“It was really fun,” he recalls. “We did pretty good, I think we went undefeated in the round robin and unfortunately lost to North Grey in a tight game. But it gave me a lot of confidence, doing good against other good players. It was great for me seeing what I can do against high end talent.”
Horiachka led the 2022 edition in scoring with seven goals and 11 points in four games, averaging close to three points a game. He scored two goals in every game except for one and his best game was a four-point effort against South Black.
He continued his solid play the last two seasons with the U15 AAA Sherwood Park Flyers, playing in 61 games where he scored 50 goals and 119 points. His production and size allowed him to go in the third round of the draft at pick 55.
“I try not to think about it too much,” Horiachka said prior to the Alberta Cup about his draft year. “I just try to play my game and do my best. Everything happens for a reason. It’s obviously exciting, it’s a fun league and it’s a cool experience to play in front of a bunch of people but I just want to go out and do my best at every level.”
The Prospects Cup is the first step of the Hockey Alberta Development program. It provides second year U13 male athletes, coaches, trainers, and administrators an opportunity to discover the qualities of competitive hockey in a well-organized regional camp and select team competition.
The 2024 Prospects Cup kicked off yesterday (May 9) and will continue through until Sunday (May 12) with the championship game taking place at 3:30 P.M. All games are at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre in Red Deer.
Horiachka credits his success to his time going through the Hockey Alberta program and says he’s learned a lot over the process.
“There’s a bunch of different things that people look for,” he said. “You have to bond with new teammates and gel together as a team quickly. It’s really the first opportunity any of us have participated in short term competition so I think it’s really good for us to get that experience moving forward. I’ve definitely learned a lot during my time with Hockey Alberta and I’m sure it will help me with similar experiences in the future.”
