North Bay’s Colton Point has gone from wearing a Midget AAA Trappers jersey in February to a Team Canada East jersey less than a year later.
The Carleton Place Canadians goaltender was selected as one of the Team Canada East goaltenders for the World Jr. A Challenge which is taking place in Whitby this week.
Team Canada East opened the tournament Sunday with a convincing 8-3 win over Switzerland. Point made 10 saves in his Team Canada debut.
The World Junior ‘A’ Challenge event includes two Canadian squads (East & West) along with junior teams from Russia, Switzerland, United States and the Czech Republic.
Team Canada East is back on the ice tonight as they face Russia.
It’s been a pretty incredible year for the former Chippewa S.S. student as he was also listed as a “C” prospect for the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by NHL Central Scouting.
"Being selected for team Canada East is a huge honour, ever kid in Canada dreams of putting on the team Canada sweater and representing their country,” Point told BayToday.ca before his first contest with the Red and White.
“Being on the draft list is a major achievement and I am really proud but it's just the first step of many in the process of playing hockey at the highest level.”
Signing with Carleton Place essentially closed the door on Major Junior Hockey for Point, who was a 2014 14th round pick of the Erie Otters.
The 6’3”, 220 pound netminder is off to a great start statistically as he has a 13-2 record with the 2015 RBC Cup finalists along with a stingy 2.71 goals against average.
Point also received a NCAA Division I commitment from Colgate for the 2017 season. He was also named to a CCHL All-star squad for the recent Eastern Canada Cup All-Star Challenge which was held in early November in Cornwall.
