Oilers won’t be at Young Stars in Penticton

Earlier today, Rick Dhaliwal of NEWS 1130 and Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver reported that only the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets will be participating at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, British Columbia. The Oilers and Flames, who had been present in the showcase the previous few years, weren’t listed.

The classic first started all the way back in 2010, featuring prospects from the Oilers, Flames, Canucks, Sharks, and Ducks. Back in that day, Oilers fans everywhere were glued to their computer screens trying to get a look at those deemed to be the saviours of the franchise — Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle.

Since 2014, the tournament had only involved the four Western Canadian clubs. Now it’ll only be the Canucks and Jets playing a set of games while the University of Alberta Golden Bears and University of British Columbia Thunderbirds play one another.

I recall there was some discussion that the other non-Canucks teams were wanting to host this tournament themselves and as a result there was a discussion about holding it somewhere other than Penticton. So expect Edmonton and Calgary’s prospects will play some kind of back-to-back instead this fall.