Four Ranked Players Brings RHA's Growth Into Focus

Just call them Big Hero 6. Seth Jarvis of Winnipeg, Daemon Hunt of Brandon, Tristen Robins of Brandon, Ben McCartney of Macdonald,  Carter Loney of Winnipeg (pictured) and Jakob Brook of Roblin were all named by the National Hockey League's Central Scouting Bureau to the final 2019-20 list of top draft-eligible North American skaters on Wednesday. The fact that four of them -- Jarvis (Portland Winterhawks), Robins (Saskatoon), Loney (Steinbach Pistons MJHL) and Brook (Regina) -- were all inaugural-season players at the RINK Hockey Academy, suggests quite emphatically that the RHA program has come of age. "The connection with these four players is that they were all here right as we started," said RHA Midget Prep coach, Rob Smith, who had a hand in the development of all four of the ranked players. "Three of them -- Jarvis, Loney and Brook -- all started with the first year of our Bantam Prep program (2016-17) while Tristen has that late birthday and came right in and played two years with me on the Midget team. Loney played three years in our program while the others played two seasons in our program. "They were all guys who came in worked hard and bought into the way we were trying to do things. Their commitment to the program and the way we developed players plus their ability to work hard, is the reason why they're all successful today." The six Manitoba players listed by Central Scouting were listed in this order: 11. (14) Seth Jarvis, Portland Winterhawks (WHL), C/RW, Winnipeg 25. (22) Daemon Hunt, Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL), D, Brandon 86. (134) Tristen Robins, Saskatoon Blades (WHL), RW, Brandon 153. (136) Ben McCartney, Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL), LW, Macdonald 167. (198) Carter Loney, Steinbach Pistons (MJHL), C, Winnipeg (University of Minnesota-Duluth) 171. (NR) Jakob Brook, Regina Pats (WHL), RW, Roblin Four of the six players -- Jarvis, Robins, Loney and Brook all moved up significantly in the rankings from November to April. Hunt was injured for the most of the second half of the season but dropped only three spots. He's a quality defenseman who should be selected in the second round. Jarvis, who had a sensational season and was named a Western Conference First Team All-Star and is expected to be a first round pick, moved up three spots. Brook, who just won the Eastern Conference's Scholastic Player of the Year award for the second straight season, was not even listed in November. Loney, who will play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the fall (hopefully) moved up 31 spots. In 2018, goalie Matt Thiessen became the first player to graduate from the RHA program to be drafted by an NHL team when the Vancouver Canucks selected him in the seventh round (192nd overall). The 19-year-old from Steinbach who played one season at RHA (2016-17), just completed his freshman year at the University of Maine. "I think this kind of thing shows that after four years, the RHA program has come of age," said RINK President and CEO Ryan Cyr. "Not just on the hockey side, but also on the education side. Three of these guys started with us in Grade 9 and they all graduated from Shaftesbury. These guys also made lifelong friends in the program. They stay in touch and workout together at the RINK in the offseason. We were really looking forward to having them back in the building again this summer. Hopefully, we'll still have a chance to welcome them back." Now, it's quite likely two or maybe even four RHA players could be selected in June when the NHL is expected to hold a draft by conference call. Still, it's an honour to be noticed. "The one thing that stands out to me is that all of these players were very dedicated," said Smith. "Now, after four years of our existence, you're seeing the success of a group of guys who bought into our program right from the day they arrived."