Ben West begins his NCAA hockey life in the 2023 season, but is getting games in with an Ottawa-area club and was named to the NHL mid-term draft list earlier this month.
West moved to Barrie with his family in 2019, but the 18-year-old has been travelling all over in pursuit of his hockey dream.
“The first year we lived in Barrie, I was going to high school in Michigan and then after that it was in Ottawa,” West told BarrieToday in a phone interview. “I get back to Barrie on holidays and in the summer, which I love because we’re on the water and you jump right in the lake.”
West is a goaltender with the Central Canada Hockey League’s (CCHL) Navan Grads Junior 'A' team, who currently sit third in their division and await the chance get back to playing when provincial restrictions allow.
“The stop and go of being able to play during COVID has not been fun, for sure, but I love playing for the club and playing out here," said West, who is listed at six-foot-four and 170 pounds. "It's a really fun group to be with and the team gives lots of great opportunities."
The NHL Central Scouting's mid-season rankings for the 2022 NHL Draft came out on Jan. 12, with West placing 31 on the list of goalies being considered for the draft, which takes place July 7-8 in Montreal, Que.
While many talented Canadian teenagers choose the Ontario Hockey League as their route to the NHL, West is taking the U.S. college/university approach and has committed to Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. His first year with the NCAA Division 1 school will be the 2023-24 season.
“I just felt it would be better to use hockey to pay for school in a way. It was something my dad suggested to me when I was younger — he talked about the benefits of going to a good college or university and playing top-level hockey at the same time,” West said.
While getting drafted to any team is the goal of hockey players, West admits that despite growing up in and around Toronto, he is a fan of a significant Maple Leafs rival.
“I really like Tuukka Rask and how he plays, so I am a big Bruins fan,” West said. “But in the end, the main goal is just to get drafted and I would be lucky to play anywhere.”
West is now in his second season with the Navan Grads and has registered a 6-2-0-0 record, 2.13 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in the early stages of the regular season this year. He was named CCHL player of the week at the start of the season after recording back-to-back wins and stopping 67 of 69 shots.
“I just want to keep playing and learning so I can make a big difference in the U.S. and hopefully move up the NHL draft rankings by the end of the season,” said West.
