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Photo credit: Garrett James Photography
Story by Ethan Vandop
Ryden Evers grew up in Burnaby, just five minutes away from the Burnaby Winter Club (BWC) where he spent the early years of his hockey career. In his first under-15 season, Evers had 32 points in 30 games for his club.
“They do it well there,” he said. “It’s organized. They’ve got good coaches coming through there and they move a lot of players onto juniors. A lot of prospects come out of there. I loved my time there and made a lot of good friends.”
Evers now plays for the Penticton Vees, but started his BCHL career closer to home with the Surrey Eagles, starting in the 2022-23 campaign.
“We had a special group and special coaches,” he said. “I loved my time there. They made me feel welcome. All the guys were great both years. Especially in my rookie year, they made me feel welcome and comfortable heading into the league at a pretty young age.”
In his rookie year with the Eagles, Evers had 35 points in 53 regular season games, along with 13 points in 12 playoff games. In his second season, he took a massive step forward and exploded for 53 points in 53 regular season games. He dealt with an injury that kept him out of most of the first two rounds of the playoffs, but he came back in time to be a key contributor to the team’s run to the Fred Page Cup championship, beating the Penticton Vees in six games in the final. Evers says it was an incredible ride.
“We had a good amount of returning players my second year there, so we knew we were going to have a decent team,” he said. “We also had some big recruits come in that year as well. It was a special year and obviously winning it all was an incredible time. I remember it well and I still reminisce about those days with that team.”
Following his championship season with the Eagles, Evers ended up getting traded to Penticton, the team he and the Eagles had just gone to battle with in the finals a few months prior.
“It definitely felt a bit weird going to the team you just beat in the finals,” he said. “Penticton is great at moving players on. They have so many resources to help us get ready for college. It was also good for me to move away from home. It took a bit of time, but I’m now super comfortable in Penticton.”
In his current season with the Vees, Evers leads the team in points with 41 points in 40 games. He is on pace to set a new career high in points in the final season of his BCHL career, which led to him being invited to the BCHL All-Star Weekend in Salmon Arm.
“It was a cool opportunity,” Evers said. “You’re excited to meet all the guys because, playing against them, you don’t get to know them. You have all these opinions on them, so really meeting everyone and socializing with guys around the league was cool.”
When Evers was 17, teams from the NCAA began to reach out offering opportunities to continue his hockey career, which led to him committing to the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
“I committed when I was 17,” he explained. “It kind of caught me off guard how many schools reached out at first. It felt like there was a lot that was coming at me, so it was an exciting time, but a busy time.”
With the playoffs rapidly approaching, Penticton currently sits in first place in their conference with a good shot at appearing in the finals for a fourth year in a row. From Evers’ perspective he has the opportunity to accomplish the rare feat of winning back-to-back titles with different teams.
