Each season in the BCHL, dozens upon dozens of players take on commitments to college hockey programs in Canada and the United State but one in particular that just came last week stands out as particularly special.
Langley Rivermen captain Alec Capstick accepted an offer to the University of Miami-Ohio last week, not far removed from a time when the defenceman was told he’d never play hockey again.
Just one game into the 2016-17 season, which was to be Capstick’s second in the BCHL, a rare medical condition put him on the sidelines and the prospects of him ever playing again were not good.
But hockey remained on his mind and after almost a full year away, Capstick returned to the Rivermen lineup in 2017-18 and posted new highs in points while remaining a rock on the blueline. Now he wears the ‘C’ for Langley and in 41 games so far this season has bettered the numbers he put up over two full seasons prior. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound, soon-to-be 20-year-old has four goals and 21 assists along with 39 penalty minutes.
Add in the adversity he’s overcome to stay in the game and it adds up to an enticing prospect that Miami-Ohio couldn’t pass on. Capstick is set to join the RedHawks for the 2019-20 season.
At Miami, Capstick joins a RedHawks program that hasn’t had a BCHL recruit since Powell River’s Matt Joyaux in 2013. The team competes in the NCAA’s National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) along with North Dakota, Denver, Nebraska-Omaha, St. Cloud State, Western Michigan, Colorado College and Minnesota-Duluth.
