Greening headed to Clippers

saw this on the BCHL forum.

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You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. The old adage was a boon for the Nanaimo Clippers this week.

After years of providing an endless pipeline of talented players for Cornell University, the Clipper saw the favour retuned.

The Clips announced top-flight prospect Colin Greening, a six-foot-two, 195-pound power forward from St. Jonh's, Nfld., is headed to Nanaimo despite not initially being actively recruted by the Clipper.
Instead, Greening was pointed toward Nanaimo by their pals at Cornell - where Greening will play on a full-ride scholarship in 2006/07.
"I'm absolutely thrilled," said Clips head coach and director of hockey operations Bill Bestwick. "This is a very high-end prospect, just a great kid. We have a great relationship with Cornell. We've worked five or six years to establish and develop a solid program on and off the ice, and this is a reward for that."
Clipppers such as David LeNeveu, Byron Bitz, Shane Hynes, Raymond Sawada, Ryan O'Byrne and Greg Hornby have recently moved on from Nanaimo to join the Big Red, with current Clipper Jared Seminoff on the way next year.
Greening, a left winger who played last season at Upper Canada College, visited Nanaimo last week, and said he knew almost immediately it was where he wanted to play. "I basically made my decision on the plane from Nanaimo to Vancouver," said the articulate Greening. "The players and coach Bestwick made me feel so comfortable right away, and I heard nothing but good things from the people and players at Cornell."
If there is an NHL entry draft this year, Greening can expect to hear his name called fairly early in the proceedings. He was ranked 61st among North American prospects in midseason Central Scouting rankings.
But whille a pro career is certainly in the offing, Greening places just as high an emphasis on his academics. He will take classes at Malaspina University-College next year.
"I'm interested in developing as a hockey player, but also as a person, " said Greening. "I want to make a contrubution to the comunity as well, and I konw the Clippers are consientious in that area.
Greening should fit the prototypical mold with his non-stop motor - not unlike his favourite NHLer, Doug Gilmour.
"I like to think of myself as a team player first," he sad.
Greening will be part of what is already a bumper recruiting crop for the Clips, who also recently recieved a commitment from talented centre Regan Smiley out of Calgary.
"We've got Smiley at six-foot-two down the middle, and now Colin who's six-foot-two and still growing along the wall," said a happy Bestwick. "And they're both extremely talented. I think our fans will take to them right away.
"The 1986 birthdate was also hotly pursued by a variety of U.S Hockey League teams, but said his decision to come to Nanaimo wasn't difficult.
"It's my first time out west, and I just loved it," said via telephone early this week. "It reminds me alot of home. I can't wait to get out there."

I love that we have a farm team in BC.

[Q]KeithK Wrote:

I love that we have a farm team in BC.[/q]
i think coach bestwick is probably just as happy to have a "big league" team out east.
i hear by propose that the Clips change their colors to red and white


may "the pipeline" live on

Full-ride scholarship. Admitted already for 2006-07. Anybody buying at least the second part?

need based aid (see other thread for full explanation) ... he'll defer to the fall of '06 b/c he was already accepted for the class of '09.

The Class of '10 is going to have some pretty serious firepower, especially if Greening elevates his game while in BC. I like that he's "six-foot-two and still growing"

BC and BU have for years had feeders teams in Catholic Memorial and Arlington. Ours has a shade less propinquity.

Propinquity? Damn Ivy Leaguers...

Does Nanaimo 'feed' any other U.S. D-I school?

The picture for next year has cleared a little bit now with just three left wingers coming (Kindret, Barlow, Mugford).

[Q]Will Wrote:
Does Nanaimo 'feed' any other U.S. D-I school?[/q]
Quick glance at current rosters shows: Cornell - 4 (Bitz, Hynes, O'Byrne, Sawada); U Maine - 2 (Leveille, Shepheard); Dartmouth - 1 (Glass);
tUMD - 1 (LeFebvre); Mich Tech - 1 (Foote); UHN - 1 (Teplitsky).

seem to me the Clips are spread around pretty evenly between Cornell (4 - with two on the way (Seminof, Mugford) and at least one a year later (Greening)) and the rest of college hockey (6)

edit: not sure how i forgot Mugford, what's another one at this point ... just makes it that more impressive

ben:

Two more next year, Seminoff and Mugford, with Greening on the way. and we'd still have another one (Lenny) if he hadn't left early.

Next year we could put out an entire Nanaimo line and defensive pairing, and still have some left over

Hey pfibiger, what do you know about the Smiley mentioned by Bestwick? I see he isn't with the team now, but big and talented sounds about right for Cornell. Quite a talented class coming in '06.

He's playing in the AMHL, the Alberta Midget Hockey League, for the Calgary Buffaloes. He was 3rd on his team scoring, with a 35-19-20-39. He's an '87 birthday, so despite the fact that Bestwick said that Smiley is 6'2" and Greening is 6'2" and growing, I think it's possible Smiley will grow a bit as well.

We'll see what Bestwick can do with him, if he's got the talent I think it'll show next year...and the big, talented, academically eligable players _often_ end up at Cornell

The clips have a player headed to Princeton next year, which can only mean one thing. Schafer didn't want him

Gone are the days of Casson Masters, that's for sure.