After playing his youth hockey in his home country of Switzerland, including international duty at last year’s U-18 World Junior Championships, Matthew Verboon made the journey west to join the Salmon Arm Silverbacks this season and it has resulted in him earning a scholarship to play for the Colgate University Raiders in the 2019-20 season.
The 18-year-old dual citizen, who also calls Richmond Hill, Ont. home, leads the Silverbacks in scoring with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 24 games this season. Last year, he played for the Genève-Servette U20 team in Switzerland’s Elite Jr. A league where he had 40 points in 44 games and won a league championship.
Verboon sees this next move as the best opportunity for his hockey-playing future.
“I’m so happy to have joined the Raiders family,” he said in a release from the Silverbacks. “I think their prestigious school, along with a great hockey team, were the perfect match for me both on and off the ice.”
Colgate is an NCAA Division I school located in Hamilton, N.Y. They play out of the ECAC Hockey conference along with Brown, Clarkson, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Quinnipiac, Rensselaer, St. Lawrence, Union and Yale.
This year’s Raiders roster features several BCHL alums in Paul Meyer, Paul McAvoy, Henry Marshall, Jeff Stewart, Trevor Cosgrove and team captain Ken Citron.
Prince George Spruce Kings defenceman Liam Watson-Brawn is also committed to Colgate for the 2019-20 season.
