Vernon’s Ben King is one of 28 Western Hockey League players invited to Hockey Canada’s national U17 development camp late next month.
The 6-foot-1, 173-pound King suited up for seven regular-season games with the WHL champion Swift Current Broncos, spending the majority of his season with the B.C. Major Midget League Okanagan Rockets based out of Kelowna. He ran up 13 goals and 34 points in 31 games with the Rockets. King also played two games for the BCHL Vernon Vipers.
King was selected 13th overall by Swift Current in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft. King will be among a total of 111 U17 players from around the country at the camp, scheduled for July 21-27, at Olympic Park in Calgary.
Aside from the development side of the camp, it will begin the evaluation and selection process for Hockey Canada’s eventual roster for the 2018 World U17 Hockey Challenge. That tournament runs Nov. 3-10 in New Brunswick.