Confirmed: Zacha Commits To Sarnia Sting
BREAKING NEWS
The unclear situation surrounding the top Czech prospect of this time, Pavel Zacha, has reached a conclusion. The Brno native is transferring to the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, the team that selected him first overall in the CHL Import Draft. General manager Nick Sinclair has issued the following statement on team’s official website:
Zacha playing for Liberec of the Czech Extraliga. Courtesy of aktualne.cz
“We are thrilled that Pavel and his family have made this decision that playing in the CHL is the best possible route for his development both on and off the ice. It will be a very exciting season for Pavel as a top prospect for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft to now be able to go head to head with several other top prospects in our league. As an organization we are committed to helping Pavel achieve his dream of being an early selection in the draft. We feel very fortunate to have a talent such as Pavel commit to our organization moving forward. This announcement is another major step towards our rebuilding process. Pavel will officially sign his OHL Standard Players Agreement when he arrives for camp at the end of the month.”
The Sting were enabled to pick first overall at the import draft following a mediocre season and the quality of the team is what had Zacha and his agent Allan Walsh hesitating if joining Sarnia is a good choice or not. After all, the big forward decided to join the Western Ontatio-based team even though none of the Czechs that previously played there has had much success in North American professional hockey leagues.
Ranked 10th for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by Future Considerations, Zacha will now go face-to-face with fellow top-10 prospect Connor McDavid and Dylan Strome of Erie and Travis Konecny of Ottawa. He will, however, most likely miss the upcoming Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup, which is a big loss to the hosting Czech team.
Last season, Zacha played pro hockey in the Czech Extraliga for Liberec, alongside Petr Nedvěd, and also had impressive numbers representing the Czech Republic at the Under-18 level, both at the Ivan Hlinka and at the Under-18 World Juniors. Besides that, he also appeared at the Under-20 World Juniors.
Top photo courtesy of sarniasting.com
