Updated
Alex Newhook, the best young hockey player to come out of Newfoundland and Labrador since Daniel Cleary in the mid-1990s, won’t be adding a British Columbia Hockey League scoring title to his list of hockey accomplishments.
That’s because Newhook, a forward for the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies, has been sidelined for the remainder of the regular season with a broken bone in his hand. Newhook is expected to miss up to four weeks after suffering the injury in a game Wednesday. As of Saturday, Newhook was second in the BCHL scoring race 65 points (including 22 goals) in 45 games and was three points behind the league leader. Newhook, who only turned 17 Jan. 28, racked up those numbers despite missing a number of games because of the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and a tryout with the Canada West team for the world junior A championship. The Grizzlies’ regular season ends Feb. 25, and the hope is Newhook will be ready for the playoffs.
Newhook is set to attend Boston College in 2019, although the Halifax Mooseheads, who own his Quebec Major Junior Hockey League rights, will likely make a big push for the Avalon-Celtics minor hockey product this summer.
The Mooseheads are in the running to stage the Memorial Cup in 2019.