Blain Worthing, a 15-year-old midget player from Burns Lake, has been chasing his dream of becoming a professional hockey player in Kelowna.
Worthing moved to Kelowna with his father Kenny in September 2015 to try out for Kelowna minor hockey. Although Blain’s goal was to make the bantam tier 1 team in Kelowna, when he arrived he was placed on the tier 2 team.
“Blain remained positive, played hard and by the middle of December 2015, he was the leading scorer on his team by a large margin,” said Kenny.
Due to injuries on the tier 1 team, Blain got his chance and was called up by the tier 1 team to play a game. Then over the 2015 holiday season, he was then invited to play at the Pat Quinn Classic tournament, which is one of the biggest bantam tournaments in B.C. with over 20 participating teams from Canada and the U.S.
Kelowna won the tournament that year and Blain ended up leading his team with 10 goals. He remained on the tier 1 team for the rest of the season.
In April 2016, Blain was one of 120 15-year-old hockey players invited to play a three-day tournament for the B.C. Cup. The players were split into six teams, and Blain’s team went on to win the tournament with a 4-2 win in the final game, where Blain led his team with two goals.
“I believe he’s the only kid from Burns Lake that has ever had his name engraved on the B.C. Cup,” said Kenny.
In August 2016, Blain started tryouts again, but this time as a first-year midget.
Blain attended the Okanagan Rockets major midget’s pre-camp, which consisted of 120 kids trying out. Only 40 players were invited to their main camp and Blain was one of them.
“Blain did really well in main camp but was a late cut,” said Kenny. “The team did however let Blain know that they wanted to affiliate him and call him up [to play] if the opportunity presented itself.”
He has also tried out for the Okanagan Central Region tier 1 midget team. Blain did make this team and has been leading the team in scoring most of the season.
Kenny said his son has been very committed to his dream since moving to Kelowna.
“Just the fact that he was willing to move to pursue hockey shows a big commitment,” said Kenny. “He’s on the ice every day; he hasn’t been off the ice since we came here.”
“Blain will do his best with his tier 1 team, and his goal will be to play with the Okanagan Rockets next season,” he added.
When asked what his favourite player was, Blain said he looks up to Jarome Iginla, a Canadian hockey player currently playing for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League.
Although Blain said is happy with his decision to move to Kelowna, he said he misses the people of Burns Lake.