This Tri-Cities freshman is just 15. A Canadian hockey team is already interested

Very rarely does a player from the Tri-Cities ever get the call to the Western Hockey League.

But Burbank’s Brogan Young heard his named called last Wednesday in the inaugural WHL US Prospects Draft, when the Regina Pats grabbed him in the second round, the 27th pick overall.

It was, for Young and his family, an incredible moment.

“Honestly, I had a lot of doubt it would happen,” said Young, 15. “I was not expecting it. It feels good to have a team interested in me.”

Young’s parents, Heather and Clint, were hopeful.

“We had been in contact with the team,” Heather said. “We knew (the Pats) were interested. It was so exciting when we heard his name.”

And when Young heard his own name called?

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I was really stunned. There were so many emotions. Tears of joy.”

Young is in his freshman year at Columbia-Burbank High School. But he plays for the Coeur d’Alene Hockey Academy.

In 37 games this past season, Young, a defenseman, scored 11 goals and 23 assists.

“We’re happy with the picks we got,” Regina general manager John Paddock told the Regina Leader-Post. “I thought the overall event was very good. … It remains to be seen (how things will work out), but I think the event and the draft have been a success for our league to date.”

Paddock said his personal observances of Young were very limited.

But he added that British Columbia-based scout Huck Parfeniak watched Young.

“He really liked him,” Paddock said to the Leader-Post. “He’s a tall, lanky guy (6-foot-1, 153 pounds). The little bit of video that we got, he moves around the ice all right. There has been communication with him. He said he’s very interested, so we’ll see.”

Young is indeed very interested.

Love of hockey

He took to hockey at an early age.

“That kid, since infancy, has wanted this,” Heather said. “He’s wanted this for 10 years. We moved to the Tri-Cities in 2005, and we started taking him to the Tri-City Americans games. He became infatuated with them and hockey. We signed him up for hockey at 5. He did well, so he moved up. He did well there, and moved up.”

And so on.

“I’ve always loved the Tri-City Americans,” Brogan said. “Attending their games, I had such a desire to play. So yeah, I’ve always been familiar with the league. With my desire to play in the WHL, I feel like the sky is the limit.”

For a number of years, Brogan had played with the Tri-City Junior Americans program.

But a year ago, he and a couple of teammates decided to try out for the Coeur d’Alene Academy program.

It’s not easy going to school in one place, and then playing hockey almost every weekend at least three hours away.

“We have amazing community support,” Heather said. “We have three boys from the Tri-Cities (James Rush and Zach Jacobs are the other two), and the parents take their turns driving them to Coeur d’Alene. People in Coeur d’Alene open their homes to the boys. So it takes a village.”

Disciplined and dedicated

Brogan Young has shown he has the discipline and dedication to do all of this.

He carries a 4.0 grade point average as a freshman at Columbia-Burbank.

He does his homework when and where he can, including on the drive up to north Idaho.

“My parents have always raised me to know that school is the top priority,” Brogan said. “It’s all about commitment.”

Norm Lochten is Young’s coach in Coeur d’Alene.

“He was here every weekend except one because he was freshman royalty for Homecoming (at Burbank),” Lochten said. “So he missed a game in Utah.”

Columbia-Burbank High School

An athlete such as Young could be a great addition for the Coyotes’ sports programs. But Young said everyone at Columbia-Burbank knows what he does, and there is no resentment.

“Everyone at Burbank kind of knows what I do,” Brogan said. “Obviously, it’s a pretty small school. But everyone had been good to me, and everyone is happy for me.”

Lochten said the idea of having Young play for him was to get the defenseman the opportunity to be seen by scouts at bigger tournaments.

“I’ve been telling people since the start of the season that this kid is gonna get drafted,” said Lochten, who was just as ecstatic as the Young family. “He’s just a great, humble kid. Brogan took a chance on me and came up here. His parents took a chance on me.”

Young is happy he did.

“It was unbelievable. I owe so much to Norm,” Brogan said.

Lochten said Regina, only seeing Young play twice and still drafting him, was impressed.

“Until last Sunday, they thought Brogan was Canadian,” Lochten said.

When they found out he was a U.S. citizen, the US Prospects Draft was a quick opportunity to lock Young down.

Now what happens?

“My plan is to play this upcoming season in Coeur d’Alene, but it depends on Regina if I get a short call-up too,” Young said. “And each WHL team also has a rookie training camp. Otherwise, it’s 16U in Coeur d’Alene.”

That’s fine with Lochten.

“We have an April 9 deadline to get him signed up here,” Lochten said. “My goal now is to get him ready for the next level.”

• The Tri-City Americans selected two players from the same team, the San Jose Jr. Sharks.

Forward Shaun Rios, a 5-9, 145-pounder, was picked second overall.

Then teammate Ben Picard, a 6-foot, 165-pound forward, was grabbed in the second round, 43rd overall.

Notes

• This past week, Scorebook Live listed its top 50 most impactful Washington high school girls basketball players in 2019-20.

The top player is Cashmere’s Hailey Van Lith, a senior who will play next season at the University of Louisville.

The Mid-Columbia had three players listed among the top 50.

Chiawana junior Talia von Oelhoffen is ranked sixth, while Kennewick senior MeiLani McBee (playing at the University of Hawaii next season) is No. 22.

Sunnyside senior Kameran Rodriguez is No. 45 on the list.

Two players — Pasco sophomore A’niyah Heavens and Walla Walla senior Rian Clear — are among the players listed as honorable mention.

• The Providence University women’s basketball team finished the season with a 21-12 record, and defeated Lewis-Clark State College 69-66 to win the Frontier Conference tournament on March 10.

The victory marked three consecutive road wins in the tournament for the Argos.

In that title game, Emilee Maldonado (Sunnyside) scored 17 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and dished off 7 assists. Teammate Bailey Cartwright (Chiawana) added 13 points and 15 rebounds.

Jansen Edmiston (Hermiston) led LCSC with 21 points.

That also qualified Providence with a berth in the NAIA national tournament, which was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Maldonado finished the season as a first-team Frontier Conference all-star, while Cartwright made the second team. Edmiston, by the way, was an honorable mention selection.

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 12:32 PM.