Thursday 23 August 2012

Jack Walker signs WHL Contract

The Victoria Royals are proud to announce that the club has signed defenceman Jack Walker to a Western Hockey League Standard Players’ Agreement.

The Edina, Minnesota native is scheduled to compete in the Royals’ Rookie Camp, beginning this morning, and is the brother of Royals’ forward Ben Walker. Walker will compete for Team Campos during Rookie Camp whose first game is set for 1:15 p.m. today.

“We’re extremely excited to have Jack join our organization,” Royals’ General Manager Cameron Hope said. “Having him sign is, in essence, like having two first round draft picks in last year’s Bantam Draft. Jack’s signing coupled with young talent such as Keegan Kanzig, Joe Hickets, Ryan Gagnon and Chaz Reddekopp makes us feel our back end depth is positioned very well for the coming seasons.”

Most recently, Walker was named to Team USA for the 2012 Under-17 Five Nations tournament held earlier this month in Chomutov, Czech Republic. Walker recorded one assist in four games of tournament play to help Team USA earn a gold medal. The 16-year-old was also selected to represent his country at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games hosted in Innsbruck, Austria last January.

The 5-10, 170 lb defenceman arrives in Victoria after spending the 2011-12 season with the Edina High School Hornets of the Minnesota Boys High School hockey league. In his freshman season, Walker posted 14 points (2g-12a) to go along with 22 minutes in penalties through 29 regular season games played. In post-season play, Walker notched two assists over three games played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.