A month ago, an 18-year-old Whitby hockey player didn’t know where he’d be drafted or if he’d be selected at all. Ethan Keppen and his family took the risk of going to Vancouver, and against all odds, the move paid off.
He is now a Vancouver Canuck, and his journey is just beginning.
It’s the culmination of years of hard work, heart and determination, and Keppen had to endure a long wait until the fourth round. He was the 122nd player chosen in the 2019 NHL draft.
The 18-year-old had been dreaming about the moment since he was a kid.
“I didn’t care what I was rated at all, but I had a pretty good feeling that I was going to be picked, maybe not be picked, and me and my family took the risk and go, just to experience it,” said Keppen.
“You felt the energy in the building just rise,” said Paul Keppen, Ethan’s dad, who played a key part in his hockey journey.
He coached him for the first two years, before taking on more of a supporting role.
“If you go back to the early days, when he’s maybe three or four years old and he’s wearing skates for the first time, you don’t write this script,” Paul said.
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Keppen has spent the past two seasons playing for Flint in the Ontario Hockey League, tallying 30 goals and 59 points last year. Since getting back from Vancouver, the six-foot-two-inch, 212-pounder is spending the summer in the gym and on the ice.
“He has never complained to me about an exercise. He does everything, he’s always challenging himself, his work ethic is what sets him over the top,” said Kristin Smart, Ethan’s strength and conditioning coach.
“I text him right following the draft and I said to Ethan, I said congratulations, it now just begins and for him he’s putting in the time,” said Anthony Cornacchia with Edge Hockey Academy Inc.
“I got a lot of work to do if I’m going to be a Vancouver Canuck,” said Keppen.
Keppen will head back to Flint at the end of August to rejoin the Firebirds for a couple weeks before returning to Vancouver in September for his first Canucks training camp.
He knows it’s a long shot making the big club straight out of camp, but he hopes he can at least earn his way to the next step — a contract.
“My main goal is just to be an impact player,” Keppen said. “I don’t care about points at all, I just want to be out there, just competing hard.”
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