TYLER BENSON 1ST OVERALL – 2013 WHL BANTAM DRAFT
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@Tyler_Benson77
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Age: 15 Born: Mar 15/98 Pos: LW Ht: 5'11" Wt: 181 lbs
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Photo credit: Edmonton Sun
2012/13 Stats EDMONTON SSAC LIONS
146 points
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MB
RD
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57 G
S IST
ET
W
CK FE
D SHO
DS
NE
QUI
WICKE
GAMES
AT HA N
PLAYED
GRE
LS • 89 ASS OA
HL RE
C
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*Previous AMBHL Record Holder: Ty
Rattie 131 points
(To date Rattie has registered 438 career WHL points.)
B.GALLAGHER 1.72 J. TAVARES 2.08
POINTS PER GAME IN BANTAM
2.12
E. KANE G. BRULÉ S. CROSBY J. TOEWS
2.71 2.88 4.02
WHAT THE
EXPERTS SAY “As good a prospect as I’ve seen in the last 10 years.” — Anonymous WHL General Manager
“Exceptional hands. Exceptional vision. A player that makes everyone around him better.” — Craig Button, TSN Analyst & former NHL General Manager
“He possesses that magical knack that only the best seem to have.” — Mark Spector, Sportsnet Analyst
To see more, visit VancouverGiants.com/blueprint
Tyler Benson: The real deal BY RYAN DITTRICK | EDMONTONOILERS.COM OCTOBER 12, 2012 Who’s Tyler Benson, you ask? In addition to being the younger brother of Edmonton Oil Kings forward Cole, he’s a highly skilled 14-year-old phenom currently playing with the South Side Athletic Club’s Southgate Lions. Here’s all you need to know about Benson and the season he’s had in Alberta Bantam AAA: coming into Sunday’s game at the Millwoods Recreation Centre, he needed at least four points to maintain his record-setting pace and ridiculous points-per-game average. Photo by Codie McLachlan/Edmonton Sun/QMI Agency
In a 9-1 win over Edmonton’s Knights of Columbus, Benson posted a goal and four assists. In 19 games this season, he’s now collected 36 goals and 91 points.
for the Pittsburgh Penguins?), Benson spotted Josh Paterson at the lip of the crease. In large part, K of C controlled the pace early on. But that all changed when Benson hopped over the boards -- the Lions became hunters, you might say. At 5’11” and 180 pounds, Benson is one of the bigger bodies at this level. He’s not shy about dishing it out, either. In the corners and in the tougher areas of the ice for goal-scorers, Benson continually puts himself in a position to physically overpower his opponent. As you can imagine, he draws a bit of attention. Benson has already proved he’s an elite playmaker at the bantam level, but it seems to me there’s still some untapped potential as a speedy, power-forward-like goalscorer. He has speed to burn and a release well beyond his years. Just ask Benedetto, who unintentionally stopped a Benson bullet with his head three minutes in.
St. Louis Blues prospect Ty Rattie, an Airdrie, AB product currently starring with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, holds the single-season record with 131 points. Benson is not only on pace to beat the mark, but shatter it and blend the remains.
With the amount of scouts and bright hockey minds in attendance to watch him play, Benson isn’t at all caught up in the pressure. And that’s a good thing considering he’s already established a loyal following.
Sidney Crosby entered the NHL labeled as ‘The Next One.’ Connor McDavid, who’s now playing in the Ontario Hockey League at age 15, is along the same path since ‘The Next, Next One’ has emerged in some reporters’ vernacular.
But he’s still a kid. Step 1 is the WHL bantam draft next spring, in which he’ll most likely be chosen with the top pick. Due to his age, however, there’s no guarantee that he’ll play in the WHL next season -- but I’d bet on it, considering the circumstances and promise in Benson’s career.
Those weigthy words have been used to describe 2013 draft eligible prospect Nathan MacKinnon, too.
A lot can change in four years; Benson isn’t NHL draft eligible until 2016. But while projections that far in advance are difficult, if not impossible, one thing’s for sure: Benson is already a star at this level and likely will be at the next one, too. So while there’s currently a work stoppage in the NHL, there’s certainly no shortage of excellence to get excited about.
While those comparisons (and expectations) are lofty, Benson’s play has earned it. 6:22 into Sunday’s game, after he’d already recorded four shots on K of C goaltender Vince Benedetto, No. 17 picked up his first of five points on the night.
And in this case, it’s a local product making the noise. Wheeling off the goal line with a heel-on-heel pivot to the slot (does that remind you of someone who wears No. 87
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SSAC Lions’ Tyler Benson keeping early-season success in perspective BY DEREK VAN DIEST, EDMONTON SUN DECEMBER 3, 2012 EDMONTON - Tyler Benson is trying to take it all in stride. With his success and the accompanying attention, it would be easy for the 14-year-old to get ahead of himself and start thinking of the riches that might await. But Benson is not that type of player. He’s not that type of person. So despite scoring 35 goals and adding 47 assists in his first 17 games with the South Side Athletic Club Bantam AAA Southgate Lions this season, Benson is staying grounded. “I’m not surprised by his success, I’m surprised by how humble he is and how he’s handling the attention that he’s getting,” said Lions head coach Taylor Harnett. “Not because he’s not capable of that, but it’s because he’s 14 years old. He’s handling it great and people are commenting on his good demeanor and how polite and humble he is. “I’ve coached a lot of good hockey players, but this is the first time I’ve coached a player that’s gained this type of attention. It’s the first time I’ve coached a player that has that type of point production per game. But he understands that in order to help us be successful he has to be a good team player and a good teammate and he’s done that very, very well.” Benson can be considered one of those special players that come around once every few years.
The local product is on pace to break Ty Rattie’s record of 131 points in an Alberta Bantam AAA Hockey League season. Rattie, 19, is now a star with the Portland Winterhawks, and was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the second round — 32nd overall — of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Heading into Sunday’s contest, where the Lions shut out the St. Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres 3-0, Benson was averaging five points per game. By his standards, Benson had an off night against St. Albert, limited to a pair of assists in the victory. “I just try and worry about what’s happening now and not about the future,” Benson said. “I’m just trying to take it game by game. I just want to keep it going and keep developing. You always need to improve your game, your speed and you have to get smarter on the ice — knowing where to be and reading the play. “This year has been a surprise, things have been going my way. From the season I had last year, I thought maybe I could have a good year this year, but to have it go this well has been a surprise.” Benson has a bright future, there’s no question. He’s expected to be the top pick in next spring’s WHL Bantam Draft. Benson’s older brother, Cole, currently plays with the Edmonton Oil Kings. Beyond that, there seems to be no limit to what Benson can accomplish. 3
“Every great player has something that separates themselves from the others, whether it be one or two things,” Harnett said. “I think Tyler has six of them. He’s exceptionally quick, exceptionally strong, he’s got exceptional ability on a few different levels as far as puck-handling, agility shooting, everything. Right now from a coaching standpoint he’s the full package. “I first saw him at a conditioning camp and with his size and strength, someone actually had to tell me how old he was, I thought he was older. He made our team last year and fit right in. You knew then he was an exceptional player.” For now, the Benson and his family are enjoying the ride. The Lions are currently the class of the league, having won 16 of their first 17 games of the season, with one tie. “We’re loving every minute of it,” said Benson’s father Kevin. “We enjoy being at the rink all the time. It’s a lot of fun and really that’s where it’s at right now. It’s still at that level where it’s a lot of fun.
“I think midget is a bit different for parents, you don’t spend as much time at the rink watching them. You still go to the games, but in bantam you’re around a bit more with the kids and around the rink a lot more.” Benson’s teammates are also having a lot of fun. They’re enjoying watching the ninth-grader score almost at will and are doing their part to keep Benson’s feet planted firmly on the ground. “We’ll toss him the odd chirp now and then about little stuff and he’ll laugh it off, it’s a lot of fun,” said Lions defenceman David Quenneville, cousin to Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville. “He’s so good, it’s great to have him out there. It’s all in good spirit, it’s awesome. He’s such a good team player, he has so much skill, but he uses the guys on his team so well. That’s what makes him such a great hockey player.”
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Spector on Benson: The next big thing BY MARK SPECTOR DECEMBER 7, 2012 There is no history for the “exceptional player clause” out West, because there has been no modern day John Tavares to petition the Western Hockey League for early entry.
gave me the opportunity and I thought I could play there, I’d like to play in the Dub next year.” He is that special, special player, as his points totals would attest.
Well, WHL, meet Edmonton’s Tyler Benson. “We’ve never had that kid out West,” confirms a former WHL GM and current NHL scout. “This is a different situation than we’ve ever seen.” As the 14-year-old Benson tears through the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League with nearly five points per game, the whispers are growing around Alberta. He is big enough, at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, to play Major Junior hockey next year. He is more than good enough -- 82 points in 17 games thus far -- and Benson is indeed precedent setting, well on his way to annihilating St. Louis Blues draft pick Ty Rattie’s AMBHL record of 131 points in a single season. “Seeing (Connor McDavid) being able to do it, maybe I can too,” Benson said recently. He spoke before a rare two-point night that could have been much better, had St. Albert goaltender Joshua Dechaine not consistently thwarted Benson’s South Side Athletic Club teammates with one spectacular save after another in a 3-0 SSAC win. He is in only in Grade 9 and doesn’t even have his learner’s license yet, yet Benson is tantalized at being compared to Tavares, McDavid and the other player for whom the Ontario Hockey League invoked the “exceptional player” clause, defenceman Aaron Ekblad. Would he leave home as a 15-year-old, to ride the busses across the WHL? “Maybe,” he said carefully. “It’s a family decision. I’ll keep training hard, getting stronger. I think if they
Benson has great size, quick feet and hands, a wicked shot, and perhaps most importantly he possesses that magical knack that only the best seem to have. As he carried the puck into the constant traffic he faces from opponents, Benson has the carnal ability to increase his time and space on the ice by knowing just when to hit the brakes, speed up, or curl quickly to give the defenders some time to back off. He transitions from entering traffic to having time to make a play, a rare, natural gift that only the very best hockey players possess. While WHL scouts chew on the question of whether he should be playing Midget AAA hockey instead of Bantam AAA, few disagree that Benson -- whose older brother Cole plays for the Edmonton Oil Kings -- will go first overall in the May bantam draft. Playing either centre or wing, Benson averages just under five points per night: 35 goals, 47 assists, 82 points in 17 games. And he plays a selfless game, moving the puck and setting up teammate after teammate for his unbeaten (16-0-1) Southgate Lions. “It’s been very successful, getting lots of points, lots of attention. Helping my team win games,” he said. “It’s been a little surprising, how many (points) I’ve been getting. I like to set goals, how many points (he can get). Also, I knew how many Ty Rattie had. That’s the record, and I wanted to reach that this year.” He’ll go through a defender as easily as going around him, another advantage that will wane as the size of the competition evens out at higher levels.
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“My size helps quite a bit, just to out-battle guys. It really helps,” he said. “But the games are going to be getting harder, I know that.”
These are heady times for the son of an elementary school teacher, and a father who is in the oilfield construction business. And it’s all just beginning.
If a kid is 5-foot-11, 180 pounds at age 14, how big will he be as a 22-year-old? Maybe 6-foot-2, 205 pounds? Perhaps even bigger?
“In my mind, no question he goes No. 1,” said Tri-City Americans GM Bob Tory. “The numbers he’s putting up, and the consistency he’s doing it with it’s amazing. It’s special, really special -- as good as I’ve seen, probably, in the last 10 years.
“Come this time next year, he could be an inch taller and 10-15 pounds heavier. He could survive (the WHL), no question,” said his coach, Taylor Harnett. “I’ve been with the SSAC since 1999, and I’ve seen a lot of good players come and go. I remember Jordan Eberle, how he stood out when he played for the Notre Dame Hounds. He stood out, but it was nothing like what Tyler’s doing.
“He’s ahead of a guy like Gilbert Brule, who was a great junior. He could be a Jonathan Toews type of player. He’s big, he’s strong, he skates real well, skill level is real good … Heard nothing but great things about his brother and his family…
“He’s the full package.”
“They come around once every 10 years or so. He’s on that (Nathan) MacKinnon, McDavid type of planet.”
Tavares, Eberle, McDavid…
© 2013 Sportsnet. All rights reserved.
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Jim Matheson favourite story: Far from the NHL, real hockey still enthralls BY JIM MATHESON, EDMONTON JOURNAL DECEMBER 22, 2012 EDMONTON - I interviewed Wayne Gretzky for the first time when he was 17, as he stepped off Nelson Skalbania’s private plane after signing his first pro contract. But I don’t usually talk to 14-year-olds about hockey. Until this year’s NHL lockout.
Meet Tyler Benson, who seems to have the “It” factor.
“You should see this Tyler Benson. Man, is he good,” raved Oilers’ radio commentator Bob Stauffer. He has been given to hyperbole before, but not this time.
Benson has collected 69 points, 30 of them goals, in 14 bantam AAA games . He pounced on a chance with 30 seconds left to slam in the winner in a recent 5-4 victory over the St. Albert Sabres, a game in which the Lions were down by four goals before mounting a comeback.
I hiked over to Akinsdale Arena in St. Albert on Sunday afternoon to see Benson’s Southside Athletic Club bantam AAA team play. Felt strange to be in a hockey rink with about 200 fans – mostly parents or friends of parents. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, 5-4 for Southside. Lots of action. Benson, wearing a face mask which covered his braces (hey, he’s 14), had four points. He got the winning goal, just like Gretzky would have, with 30 seconds left.
The Southside Athletic Club Southgate Lions forward is as dominating at 14 as current “Next One” Connor McDavid was before he started playing this fall in the major junior Ontario Hockey League at 15.
The Lions have scored 105 total goals and are 13-01. “If you ever notice that rolling pucks always know where they’re going ... they seem to find their way onto the sticks of the skill players, not the role players,” laughed local agent Gerry Johannson, representative of NHL Boston Bruins star Milan Lucic, while watching the exciting game at St. Albert’s Akinsdale Arena.
Made my day. ---
What grabs you first about Benson is how powerful he is at this age, and his acceleration. He’s no plodder.
Bantam star Benson turning headsJim Matheson Tuesday Nov. 13, 2012 It’s chiefly a fool’s exercise, trying to predict the hockey trajectory of a 14-year-old player, but many a hockey watcher has been in a rink where some baby-face is toying with his peers and thinks, “Wow, can you believe this kid?”
He’s already five-foot-11 and weighs 180 pounds, the same size as his father, Kevin - and, again, he’s just 14. Then there’s his ice savvy, to use former Oilers captain and coach Craig MacTavish’s favourite term. Like the really good ones, Benson has a sense of where the puck is going to be and, most importantly, he goes and gets it. He wants it.
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Still, Benson isn’t one for blowing his own horn. When asked about the NHL, he doesn’t want to go there.
Airdrie’s Ty Rattie, who plays for the WHL Portland Winter-hawks and is a St. Louis Blues prospect, holds that mark at 131 points, recorded in 2007-08.
“That’s quite far away,” he said.
Each team in the league plays 33 games a season. “I told his parents the other day the attention’s starting to come to Tyler, and with the (NHL) lockout, it might get bigger than it normally would be. We’re talking about a player people are going to be talking about and reading about,” Harnett said.
Indeed, it is. He’s bigger than many bantam-aged players, and that size differential will change the older he gets. But Benson, his mouth full of braces, seems to have all the bases covered. He hits, he skates well, he can really shoot. In a lot of ways, he resembles a young Jonathan Toews. His best asset: “My size, my skating and I think my vision on the ice, finding my teammates and finding open ice,” Benson said. Other players in the bantam league stand out, too, such as Lloydminster defenceman Kale Clague and Sherwood Park forward Sam Steel. But if Benson isn’t the first name called in next spring’s Western Hockey League bantam draft of 14-year-olds, it’ll be a major surprise. Benson, whose brother Cole plays for the WHL Edmonton Oil Kings, had 11 points one day against some overmatched bantams from Cam-rose. His coach Taylor Harnett, who attended Edmonton Oilers’ training camp in 1995 as a walk-on and now works a sheriff, had to tell Tyler to cool his jets. Benson, who attends Mount Carmel Academy - in Old Strathcona, near the George S. Hughes South Side Arena - is on pace for 160 points, which would shatter the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League record.
There was a sense of inevitability that Benson would get the winner against the Sabres, his second goal and third point of the night. “I got the shot, got the rebound and was able to bury it,” he said. “If I’d said 10 years ago, ‘There’s this kid named Sidney Crosby playing midget hockey, you better come out and watch this guy because he’s going to be a star one day’, you’d have done it. I have a feeling that’s what we’re seeing with Tyler. He’s very humble, too. You can tell he’s been well-groomed.” Nobody’s saying Southside captain Benson, who plays mostly at centre and wears No. 17, will be Crosby. Let’s not go there. But his talent jumps out at you, with equal helpings of hunger for the puck. “I’ve been coaching at Southside for 15 years, and I’ve seen (Dion) Phaneuf and (Jay) Bouwmeester come through there, and I’ve never seen anybody dominate like Tyler has. Never,” said Harnett, listing NHL stars from Edmonton. “Daymond Langkow came in when I was playing, as a midget, and he’d didn’t do this.” © Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
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SSAC Southgate Lions star Tyler Benson draws closer to Alberta Bantam AAA scoring title BY TREVOR ROBB, EDMONTON EXAMINER JANUARY 16, 2013
Southside Athletic Club (SSAC) Southgate Lions star forward Tyler Benson had one assist in their 3-2 win over the St. Albert Sabres in Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League (AMBHL) AAA action at Mill Woods Twin Arena on Thursday, January 10, 2012 . TREVOR ROBB/ EDMONTON EXAMINER
While the rest of the Alberta hockey world is all-abuzz about Southside Athletic Club (SSAC) Southgate Lions forward Tyler Benson and his quest to break the Alberta Bantam AAA scoring record, the local phenom himself, seems hardly interested.
He his biting on the heels of St. Louis Blues prospect Ty Rattie, who in 2008 played for the Airdrie Xtreme Bantam AAA squad and set the scoring record with 75 goals and 131 points in 33 games. ADDED ATTENTION With only seven games left on the schedule, the achieving the record might go down to the wire. In fact, it’s already becoming more difficult.
Known for being a humble, and team-first kind of player — Benson instead remains focused on the larger picture.
“I don’t really think about it too much,” says Benson. “I just want to think about the team and keep going and making it far in the playoffs and win Western’s.” It’s something Lions head coach Taylor Harnett relies on as he looks to Benson as a team leader. “One of the biggest things with Tyler is he prepares for every game to be a good teammate and for the most part, play to get the two points,” says Harnett. Nonetheless, Benson has been on an absolute tear this season, posting an incredible 43 goals, 73 assists and 116 points in just 25 games.
The attention Benson has garnered off the ice has resulted in added attention on the ice from opposing teams who try feverishly to limit Benson’s production. “I’ve noticed they try to play tighter around me, and keep guys on me and always get their top d-pairs on me,” says Benson. “It gets a little harder to get to those openings.” They say competition breed’s competition, and coach Harnett understands that opposing players take a lot of pride in shutting down Benson. “There’s a lot of talk about Ty Rattie’s record and so you now have teams that are playing him and they know he’s an exceptional player and they don’t want to be on the ice when he scores a goal,” says Harnett. “That’s something he’s had to deal with in the last few months now but that’s to be expected. With any 9
player of that caliber guys are going to key on him a bit more and coaches are going to prepare a bit more.” PLAYING PHYSICAL One of the aspects of Benson’s game that doesn’t get as much attention is his ability to use his size to his advantage. At only 14 years of age, Benson stands 5-foot 11 and weighs 180 pounds. “With my size, it’s always a key part of my game — I always want to play physical,” says Benson. “He’s a bigger body and he uses it to,” says Harnett. “He probably doesn’t use it as much as we’d like to see but again he s not trying to put himself in a vulnerable position, which isn’t a bad thing.” It’s just another tool Benson uses to not only set the tone physically but to help give him the space he needs to add to his mounting score total. “With my speed I can keep up and it’s also just a great way to separate a guy from the puck.”
LIONS STAY SABRES The Lions (23-0-2) battled the St Albert Gregg Distributors Sabres to a gritty 3-2 Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League (AMBHL) regular season win at Mill Woods Twin Arena on Thursday. Despite the Sabres’ (6-14-6) woeful record in the standings, they proved a formidable foe for the no. 1 ranked Lions. “Some could say they’re underrated,” says Harnett. “It seems that when we play them, and that’s not just this year, St. Albert always has a good hockey team.” With the Sabres steeped in a battle for the fourth and final playoff spot with the Canadian Athletic Club (CAC) Lehigh Cement (10-13-2), every game matters, and the Sabres’ level of intensity was dually noted by Harnett. “They played us hard but they always play us hard, and they’re fighting for a playoff spot,” says Harnett. “They look like they were playing playoff hockey and we weren’t just yet and we need to be at that point.” The AMBHL will take a break from regular season competition on Saturday, as Red Deer will host their annual All-Star game. The Lions will continue their season on Sunday when they face-off against the Sherwood Park United Cycle Flyers at the Mill Woods Arena B. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
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Giants have a shot at drafting prized prospect Tyler Benson BY STEVE EWEN, THE PROVINCE FEBRUARY 2, 2013 Recent history suggests the Vancouver Giants will have one of the top two selections in the WHL bantam draft this spring, and a deeper look at the past points to them getting a bona fide game changer with their pick. Tyler Benson, 14 years old, has 141 points in 31 games in the Alberta Major Bantam League. — Postmedia News
The Giants appear destined to finish at the bottom of the 22-team league this year, considering they trail the next-worst team, the Prince George Cougars, by 13 points with just 19 games remaining in the regular season. The WHL employs a draft lottery for its six non-playoff teams, but, assuming Vancouver finishes last, the worst they can pick is second overall at the draft May 2 in Calgary, according to the format. Looking at the top two selections from the 2002-09 bantam drafts, nine of the 16 players in question went on to become first-round NHL picks, while another pair were the second picks of the second round. That overall total should increase this coming spring since Edmonton Oil Kings forward Curtis Lazar, the second overall pick in the 2010 bantam draft, is projected by many to also be an NHL first-rounder. The moral of the story? The Giants look like they’ll get a guy to build around, like when they picked Gilbert Brule first overall in 2002. The player with the most buzz in this year’s 14-yearold class would be Tyler Benson from Edmonton, who, going into a game Tuesday, had 141 points, including 56 goals, in 31 games for the Southside Athletic Club Lions of the Alberta Major Bantam League. That was 48 points more than the league’s next best scorer, and he’s
already shattered the league record of 131 points, set by Ty Rattie in 2007-08. Rattie, then of the Airdrie Xtreme, was the second overall pick by the Portland Winterhawks in the 2008 bantam draft and he’s been a centrepiece in the Winterhawks becoming dominant. He had 121 points, including 57 goals, in 69 regular season games with the Winterhawks last season, and this year, while missing action with Team Canada at the world juniors, he has 73 points, including 29 goals, in 44 games to date. Benson is already 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, and he gets by on sheer power; he has a shot that makes opposing netminders cringe, scouting reports say. He also seems to have a feel for the game, to the point that the Edmonton Journal recently compared him to Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. He’s excelled so distinctly that there’s been talk that he merits being granted “exceptional status” under Hockey Canada’s Canadian Development Model, which would allow him to play full time in the WHL next season as a 15-year-old. It’s never happened in the league, but it has occurred three times in the OHL, including with John Tavares in 2005-06 and Connor McDavid this season. Normally, 15-year-olds are permitted to play five games on a call-up basis, then can join their WHL clubs full time when their midget teams are eliminated from the playoffs. Evander Kane, who was part of the Giants’ Memorial Cup run in 2007 as a 15-year-old, is the best example in these parts. The club that drafts Benson in May would need approval from Hockey Canada and the WHL for the exceptional status.
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’Dub Weekly: As Benson’s totals climb to ridiculous heights, WHL exceptional status discussion continues Edmonton phenom the favourite to go first overall in 2013 bantam draft, but will he play in WHL next season? BY KRISTEN ODLAND, CALGARY HERALD FEBRUARY 4, 2013
Ty Rattie knew it was only a matter of time before his onceridiculous Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League record would eventually be surpassed. Sure enough on Jan. 25, it happened when Edmonton’s Tyler Benson, a forward with the Southside Athletic Club Lions bantam AAA club, set an even more ridiculous AMBHL record when he had a 10(!) point night with two goals and eight assists in a 15-0 victory over Camrose. Bantam AAA hockey player Tyler Benson, right, is breaking records and turning heads with Edmonton SSAC this season. His 141 points in 31 games has many thinking he could become the first player to be granted exceptional status in the Western Hockey League.Photograph by: Herald Files/Edmonton Journal
To date, Benson has 141 points (56 goals and 85 assists) in 31 games with another two games left in their season. Back not so long ago in 2007-08, Rattie’s tear ended at 75 goals and 56 assists for 131 points in 33 appearances with the Airdrie Xtreme. And even he is impressed. “I knew it was going to get broken some day,” said Rattie, a prospect of the St. Louis Blues, enjoying a few moments before hitting the ice with his Portland Winterhawks. “But good for him. He’s on the right path. He’s doing some special things. My dad told
me he was close to breaking my record and then, all of a sudden, I heard he had a 10-point game to break it. “Obviously he’s going to be something special — he already is.” Rattie gave Benson his seal of approval — a shoutout on Twitter (adding a complimentary hashtag: #toogood) — but he isn’t the only one following the progress of the 14-year-old phenom who is a front-runner for the 2013 Western Hockey League bantam draft. At this point, many are wondering if Benson, a five-foot-11, 180-pounder, could play full-time as an underage in the WHL next year. According to Hockey Canada’s Canadian Development Model, only 15-year-olds are considered for “exceptional status.” John Tavares, who turned 15 on Sept. 20, 2005, played his first season with the Oshawa Generals that year. Aaron Ekblad played his first season with the Barrie Colts in 2011-12 and turned 16 on Feb. 7, 2012, while Connor McDavid, who received exceptional player status the Ontario Hockey Federation last spring and turned 16 on Jan. 13, is ripping it up with the Erie Otters and leading all rookies with 21 goals and 30 assists in 47 games. The scenario has happened three times in the Ontario Hockey League — but never in the WHL. 12
Out here, where players are drafted out of bantam, 15-year-olds are limited to five games. They can stay with their WHL club only in an emergency situation or when his midget team is knocked out of playoffs. In Benson’s case, however, it’s worth asking the question — should he be the first? Or should everyone just take a deep breath and let his career progress naturally? “There’s an inherent risk to bring a player up to a dramatically higher level,” pointed out Tyler Boldt, the WHL’s director of player development. “We’ve seen that in the past at the NHL level. You never hear about a player who was held back for too long and it stunted his development,” “The only time you hear bad stories are when a player is rushed to a higher level and it doesn’t work out. He gets sent down and can’t recover. You never hear bad stories of players who were kept at a lower level for an extra year and that didn’t work out for them. You never hear that.” Boldt deals with players and families — like Benson whose brother Cole plays for the Edmonton Oil Kings — that are just starting their hockey careers. He prepares them for the springtime bantam draft and educates them on the league. In the coming months, he most likely will have a conversation with Benson and his family. But already, he’s seen the kid in action and understands the hype. “He’s, no doubt, one of those players that needs to be talked about,” Boldt said. “He’s had a great season. Part of that is he has good size for forward at his age but the biggest thing is his hand and feet and exceptional hockey sense. He knows where to be. “I think that’s a big reason he gets a lot of points ... but he’s got a lot of junior hockey to play.” Back in 1984, Glen Goodall cracked the lineup of the Seattle Breakers — at age 14. He played six seasons in the WHL and holds the record for games played
(399) and goals scored (262). But that was a much different era. These days, to apply for exceptional player status, Benson and his family would have to first be approved by Hockey Alberta while the WHL club that drafts him in May has to receive approval from Hockey Canada and the WHL. It’s not an easy process, but it is possible for a WHL club to make a case for it. Rattie said he was approached by the idea but, as an undersized kid at that age, his parents weren’t too keen on it. After being drafted second overall by Portland, he played a year of midget ‘AAA’ with the UFA Bisons and moved away the following season. In hindsight, things worked out. But at the time, he certainly wanted to make the jump. “You’re a young kid and you get told you can play at a higher level at a young age,” Rattie said. “And you want to. But I’m glad my parents stepped in and kind of talked me down. “There’s definitely a long, long list of pros but there’s some cons as well.” Which is exactly the debate: would a player or a club want to risk growth and development by exposing him to the WHL too quickly? There is the off-ice transition (moving away from home, new schools, living with billets, ect.) to consider. And on-ice? At the moment, it’s difficult to project if Benson could transition that skillset against 16- to 21-year-olds. “It’s hard to say,” Boldt said. “I don’t think you could say that without seeing in him a camp or something like that. The characteristics match that of a star player, but he’s a Grade 9 student. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that would translate into success as a 15-year-old in our league.”
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Having been playing against Grade 8 and Grade 9 players — and a significantly lighter schedule than major junior — the physical aspect cannot be underestimated. “Now he’ll be jumping into a league where players are 20- and 21-years-old,” Boldt said. “That’s a big difference. Especially with the growth of these boys at that age, that’s a lot of inches and a lot of pounds between a 14-year-old and a 20-year-old. When you’re 14 years old, your body is still developing at an accelerated pace. And then when you make that jump to junior, all those kids have already been through it. “It’s exciting, but you do have to keep it into perspective.” Rattie agreed. And, speaking from experience, there are bigger decisions to come on his horizon — and plenty of pressure still ahead.
“As good as he’s doing, he can handle it and plays well under it or he wouldn’t be where he is right now,” Rattie said. “He better get used to pressure because he’s going to be under a lot more in the years to come and years after that. “Obviously, he handled this year well and he’s on the right track, that’s for sure.” ICE CHIPS ... For the third time this season, Kamloops Blazers forward Colin Smith was dubbed the WHL player of the week with 10 points (four goals and six assists) in four games as the Blazers went 3-1-0-0 ... Saskatoon Blades netminder Andrey Makarov is the WHL’s nominee for CHL goalie of the week. Makarov was 3-0-0-0 with one shutout (a 6-0 win over the Calgary Hitmen), stopping 107 of 109 shots faced for a 0.982 save percentage and a 0.67 goals against average.
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Edmonton’s Benson attracting big-league attention BY CHRIS O’LEARY, EDMONTON JOURNAL MARCH 22, 2013 EDMONTON - The moment caught the Benson family off guard.
Bantam hockey prospect Tyler Benson sits with his mother Leonora and father Kevin at Rexall Place prior to the Oil Kings game on March 22, 2013. PHOTOGRAPH BY: Larry Wong, Edmonton Journal
During the second intermission of the San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers game on Wednesday night, the TSN panel took a break from the pro game to talk about up-and-coming players.
All of a sudden, game tape of Kevin and Leonora Benson’s 15-year-old son, Tyler, was in front of a national audience. “That’s not something we were expecting,” Kevin said. “You’re sitting there with your friends watching a normal game at the rink and he pops up. We didn’t even know he was going to be on. It’s pretty cool.” The panel pointed to Benson’s record-setting season in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League, where he had 146 points, with 57 goals in 33 games with Edmonton’s Southside Athletic Club Southgate Lions as the reason he’s a lock to be picked first overall in the Western Hockey League Bantam Draft on May 2. Before Benson was on TV on Wednesday night, the Vancouver Giants won the league’s draft lottery. Benson’s former SSAC teammate Giorgio Estephan, who now plays midget AAA, called him and told him to turn the game on. “It was pretty exciting watching it, just seeing yourself on a show you’ve always watched,” Benson said. “I’ve always watched SportsCentre and it was pretty cool seeing that.”
It’s just about the only thing that Tyler’s older brother Cole, a 17-year-old, second-year centre with the Edmonton Oil Kings, couldn’t prepare him for. As Tyler skated like a man playing against boys this season, he dealt with massive amounts of media attention and had his name bandied around with players like Ty Rattie (who held the AMBHL scoring record before Tyler broke it) and former Giants and current NHLers Brendan Gallagher and Evander Kane. Cole has been there to share his experiences of going from bantam to midget and eventually junior hockey. “He tries to stay away from talking too much about the draft and things like that,” Cole said of Tyler. “He’s just going to let it take its own road, really, but he’s really excited about it. He tries not to let the media get to him, he tries to play the game just like he’s played it the last two years in bantam and he’s taking it in stride. He’s really enjoying it.” “I think for Tyler, just growing up around Cole has helped him a lot,” Kevin said. “Not so much his game now, but just to see things going forth, I think he appreciates a lot of what Cole has done.” Like Cole did in his path to junior, Tyler will play midget hockey next. There had been talk of Tyler getting exceptional player status through Hockey Canada and the WHL to join the league as a 15-year-old next season, but the Benson family isn’t much interested in seeing that through. “Our standpoint is the WHL would have to let a family know if they feel a player is ready for the league,” Kevin said. “It’s not for us to go apply for something that he hasn’t even been drafted into yet. That wasn’t our intention at all, to get exceptional status.” 15
“You never want to have that regret where you, for some reason, you happen to say you left home too early,” Cole said. “We just don’t want him to have to say that, because no one’s ever said they left home too late.” It seems that the idea isn’t appealing to the Giants, either. “We’ve never discussed it,” Giants general manager Scott Bonner told the Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen on the exceptional status issue. “I think players are fine getting here at 16.” Giants owner Ron Toigo told Ewen, “I think the NHL takes guys too young already.”
“I think it’s just good to stay home and have another year with your friends that live around you and play midget next year. It’ll help a lot,” he said. It’ll also let him be a kid for another year, something that can get sucked away from prospects in the countdown until they’re NHL draft eligible. And before the pro talk really starts to heat up, Kevin and Leonora are excited to watch a few Giants-Oil Kings games in the next few years. “It’d be pretty neat. It’d sure be exciting,” Leonora said, currently wearing Cole’s No. 12 Edmonton jersey. “It’d be fun for them and for us.”
It appears that Cole’s experiences factored into the family’s feeling on the subject as well.
“I think that’d be pretty cool. I’ve never played against him in a league game,” Tyler said. “That’d be pretty fun.”
“Having Cole already go through it, we know that a 15-year-old probably shouldn’t be doing the travelling that (Cole is) doing at 17,” Kevin said. “So yeah, it’s I think it’s good for him to stay at home one more year, for sure.”
Benson’s SSAC team is up 2-0 in its best-of-five provincial championship against the Calgary Northstar Sabres. Game 3 is Saturday night at 7:45 at Bill Hunter Arena in west Edmonton. He has 34 points in 10 playoff games.
While there’s an appeal to facing the highest competition as soon as possible, Tyler seems at peace with staying home a little longer.
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