| Ivy league education in the future for Bow Island resident |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by production |
| Wednesday, 24 February 2010 20:18 |
|
Shelly Cooper describes being chosen to play for the NHL as kind of like winning the hockey lottery, but that isn’t the only goal young players can work towards as proven by her son, Carson, who recently accepted an offer to play for the Yale University Bulldogs, meaning his love of the game is going to earn him an ivy league education - thanks to his parents always stressing the importance of keeping your marks as high as your level of hockey. Shelly said Carson started playing hockey very young, at three and a half years old. His brother, Nicholas, was six at the time and a member of what was then called the Future NHLers team in Bow Island. Knowing her son hated to be left out, she allowed him to join the team as well in spite of his young age. “He was a good little hockey player right from the beginning,” Shelly said. Carson played in Bow Island, coached by Cordel Van Dorp, Doug Conquergood, and Gerry Schnell, the coach who probably influenced him the most locally, Shelly said. He stayed in Bow Island until his second year as a pee wee then went on to play in Taber, where he was able to play double A hockey with the Taber Golden Suns. “He went to Taber because Bow Island doesn’t have double A teams,” Shelly explained. Then he played in Medicine Hat for four years, first in bantam double A then in bantam triple A hockey. In 2006 he got the chance to play in Europe. “He did it for the experience. He got to play in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria but he played so much hockey he didn’t get much of a chance to see any of the countryside but it was cool.” Carson currently plays for the Spruce Grove Saints. “Right now he’s 17. He’ll be 18 shortly so actually he’s still midget age, but he went to the Spruce Grove spring camp and they invited him to the main tryout camp in August - and they wanted to keep him,” she said. Currently he is one of the two youngest guys on the team. Because of injuries, he got a lot of ice time at the beginning of the year and he proved himself to be a very valuable member of the team.“And the scouts got to see him play,” Shelly said. They also got the chance to observe Carson at his best during the CJHL Prospects game in Winkler, Manitoba. Carson, along with the other top 40 NHL draft eligible players in the Canadian Junior Hockey League was chosen for the Team West Prospects game. Team West dominated the challenge and Carson was able to score a goal during play. Because Carson has strong ties with Bow Island with many close friends here (many locals might remember him from the Grade 11 play or have seen him working as a life guard at the pool for the last two summers) he would like to transfer back to Senator Gershaw for graduation, but that might not happen until May since he’s currently playing on a winning team. “They are at the top of their league. This is the last week of league play and then the play-offs start. Although anything can happen in the play-offs, the team is expected to go far if not win them.” Following the league play-offs there is another play-off game between the best junior hockey teams in BC and Alberta. The winner takes home the Doyle Cup. Then there’s the national championship, the RBC Cup. “That’s what they’re gunning for this year,” she said. “It’s an experience he’s looking forward to, but he’s torn. He’s still going to school and keeping up his grades.”She explained college scouts, many from the USA, not only look at hockey ability but consider grades as well. “He’s been recruited by several colleges in the States, but in January he committed to Yale. His goal was to play for an ivy league school.” Shelly said the chance her son now has to get a world class education really makes all that driving, all the worry since during hockey season he billets with a Spruce Grove family (when he played in Medicine Hat she said it was much easier since while there he lived with his dad, Randy) and all the other sacrifices a hockey parent makes. And she has some advice for other hockey moms and their young players. “In my opinion as a parent, young hockey players should keep their marks up and keep their options open to play college hockey in the States. I am so excited he will get a world-class education at Yale. The first thing those scouts look at is your grades, so keep your grades up.”She said Carson will continue to play junior A hockey during the ‘in between’ year before he heads off to Yale. “He has to continue growing as a hockey player,” she said. |