Two players with Burnaby roots earned high praise as well as all-star honours from the B.C. Hockey League.
Burnaby Winter Club alumni Logan Terness and Kent Johnson were among those celebrated this week as the junior A hockey league announced its 2019-20 league all-star teams, in advance to the start of the playoffs.
A Burnaby native, Terness, 17, drew second team all-star honours as well as the All-Rookie team for his stellar goaltending. A grad of the B.C. Major MIdget Hockey League's Vancouver Northeast Chiefs, Terness posted 27 wins over 44 starts, with the third-best save percentage -- .932 -- among netminders, which stands as the BCHL's all-time eighth-best mark. He finished with a 2.36 goals against average.
Johnson, meanwhile, dominated at the other end of the ice en route to capturing the league scoring title. The six-foot-one centre, also 17 years old, became just the second player since 2015-16 to break the 100-point plateau, finishing the season with 41 goals and 60 assists over 52 games. The Port Moody native is committed to a scholarship to the University of Michigan for the 2020-21 season.
The pair both play for the Trail Smoke Eaters, which finished second in the Interior Division with a 36-17-2-2 record.
Trail opens the playoffs on Friday with a best-of-seven series against the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The Coquitlam Express, meanwhile, hope to build upon their league-best 47-9-1-1 record as they kick off the first round on Friday in their series against the Langley Rivermen. The Express, led by Burnaby native Massimo Rizzo, host the Rivermen for Games 1 (Friday, 7 p.m.) and 2 (Sunday, 7 p.m.) at the Poirier Sports Complex. The series shifts to Langley for Games 3 and 4, on March 4 and 5, and returns to Coquitlam for Game 5, if necessary, on March 6.
