Rhinos headed to Boston

El Paso Rhinos Hockey Teams will be part of the New England Pro-Am Pre-Draft Showcase.

The teams will be called The El Paso Rhinos Hockey Academy Jr A, and U18, and will be comprised of players from the 2011-12 El Paso Rhinos Jr A hockey team and a select U18 team

The Rhinos will be paired with and coming under the wing of powerhouse Team Canada West for the tournament slated for early May .  

“The New England Pro-Am Pre-Draft Showcase is the biggest NCAA/NHL showcase tournament in the US every year. ” Team Canada West GM/International Player Scout Lou Gravel said.

“All the top Division 1 schools are there and the NHL is there, this "invite-only" tournament has the top Junior players from all over North America, players from the WHL, OHL, QMJHL, USHL, CJHL, and top Junior talent from Europe and Scandanavia, for Cory’s team to come up here and play against kids that will be on National teams, in Major Junior, USHL, and numerous Division 1 programs, is a fantastic opportunity, and it’s also a great chance for college programs to see the Rhinos and see what Cory has done there and what type of players are starting to come out of that program” said Gravel

“Cory is doing a great job down there and he’s treated every player I have sent him wonderfully so I want to help his program as much as possible, but I also want to expose some schools to the Rhinos because what he’s doing there with the training center, and the development of players has to been seen, there are some very good players that are starting to come out of El Paso and these are players that Division 1 schools should start taking a closer look at, and going to the Showcase is the next logical step, they’ve been exposed some at Nationals in the past, but now they get to see them again and see the Rhinos name again, people will start to take notice.”

Some of the players who have participated in recent Pre-Draft Showcases:

Ryan Johansen (2010 NHL Entry Draft 4^th pick overall) Columbus Blue Jackets

Charlie Coyle (2010 NHL Entry Draft 28^th overall) San Jose Sharks

Chris Kreider (2009 NHL Entry Draft 19^th overall) New York Rangers

Ryan Bourque (2009 NHL Entry Draft 80^th overall) New York Rangers

William Karlsson (2011 NHL Entry Draft 53rd overall) Anaheim Ducks

Amazing, but when that just seems too good to be true the Rhinos will join with Team Canada West and go on private visits hosted by the respective coaching staffs to Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard, as well as a private visit from Former NHL Head of the Players Association, and current Executive Director of College Hockey Paul Kelly.

“We felt as an organization this was the best opportunity we’ve ever had in our 6 years to expose our kids to top level competition and Division 1 schools, to be able to go visit tradition rich programs like Boston University, Northeastern and Harvard is unreal, and then the visit from Mr. Paul Kelly as the icing on the cake is just something we couldn’t have even dreamt of for our players, I really have to thank Lou for all this, he’s been a great asset to our program, and a great friend, and I look forward to being able to do this every year” – Cory Herman