Liam Arnsby is heading to the Under 17 hockey challenge.
The first-round pick in this past years OHL Priority selection, ninth overall for the North Bay Battalion will don the maple leaf for Canada. The tournament runs November 2-9.
“It’s awesome,” Arnsby said. “All the great guys that have gone through there and just the experience to go out there and play will be amazing.”
“We’re really happy that he is going to get that opportunity to represent Team Canada,” Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach Stan Butler said. “He represented team Ontario last year. I think he is a player who plays the game, as we call, a 200-foot game. He’s a very good offensive player who will generate a lot of points earlier.
“He is also physically strong for his age and he does a lot of things that the eye in the stands might not see, but the three coaches on the bench see it every shift.”
Through his first nine games of Ontario Hockey League action, Arnsby has produced a goal and an assist for two points but scored 21 goals and 49 assists for 70 points in 49 games with the Don Mills Flyers during his draft year last season.
Arnsby turns 16 on November 20, says the veteran players on the team have helped him and all the rookies throughout the early going.
“They have been very good to all the rookies so far,” Arnsby explained. “I just want to go out there and show them what I can do. If I perform, I think I should play.”
As for the early season returns, Butler is happy.
“I like everything about him. I think he is going to be a great player. Nothing surprises me, I have watched him play for years with Don Mills. Him and the two Christmas trees (Alex and Paul Christopoulos, also Battalion players), they were the glue of that team long before all the high-end players came. They were winning long before that and a lot of that has to do with those three guys.”
