Blanchard, a 17-year-old goaltender from St. George’s, will suit up for the Junior prep team at Ontario Hockey Academy (OHA) for the 2010-2011 hockey season. He joined the OHA AA Midget team late last season after being scouted and recruited by OHA coaches at a summer hockey showcase in Prince Edward Island.
He actually turned down the offer at OHA in favour of plying his trade as an affiliate goaltender with the Western major midget team, but the team folded before the provincial major midget campaign got off the ground.
Blanchard began his minor hockey career under the umbrella of the St. George’s Minor Hockey Association, but when he entered the bantam division he opted to register with the Stephenville Minor Hockey Association. He never won a provincial minor hockey banner and was never named to a Program of Excellence (POE) team in Newfoundland and Labrador during his minor hockey days at home.
“It means nothing really now at this stage. It doesn’t matter where you play, it matters where you’re going to,” Blanchard said from the OHA in Cornwall, Ont., this week.
Newfoundlanders like Dan Cleary, Ryane Clowe and Michael Ryder are among the homegrown boys enjoying life as a professional in the National Hockey League. However, it’s a very small percentage of players from this province who go on to enjoy professional hockey.
“I don’t see it as I’m not going to make it because I’m a Newfoundlander, I see it as not a lot of guys make it so for me I am going to put in the extra effort, like the extra gym times and extra practise. I am going try to go above and beyond what everyone else is doing to get a leg up on the competition,” he said.
Blanchard had an enjoyable experience his first year at the OHA, playing a lot of minutes and facing a lot of rubber. His team got knocked out of the playoffs in the first round, but he did get rewarded with the Most Dedicated Athlete Award for players in his grade.
This year he hopes to have a banner season and reach his goal of being drafted by a team in the United States Hockey League (USHL).
To catch the eye of USHL brass, Blanchard plans on working hard 12 months of the year. He plans on practising with his team and the OHA AAA team every day, he plans on hitting the gym faithfully and he will participate in a plenitude of sessions on the puck machine with his goalie coach.
He said the hockey program at OHA allows him to play at a higher level than what he would have seen if he stayed home.
“I think it’s better up here. It’s more of a professional kind of thing,” he said.
“Everyone here wants to go somewhere. Nobody here is really just in it for fun. It’s more like a professional atmosphere to get you to the next level.”
Blanchard played the third period for the Cornwall Colts junior A team in a 6-2 loss to Hawkesbury Tuesday night in Cornwall. He allowed one goal on 14 shots.
He will be travelling with his OHA Junior prep team to Erie, Penn., this weekend for a pair of games in the Mercy Hurst College Showcase which will feature NCAA Division 1 teams.
