The Chilliwack Chiefs are pleased to announce the commitment of 15 year-old forward Ethan Bowen for the 2018-2019 hockey season. Bowen will be an affiliate player with the Chiefs for the 2017-18 season as they host the RBC Cup.
In addition to his commitment to the Chiefs, the Chilliwack native has accepted a full scholarship as a “true” freshman to the University of North Dakota for the 2020-2021 season.
Ethan comes to the Chiefs after being the 39th overall pick in the 2017 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft. Bowen was a consensus top five pick prior to the draft but fell to the second round because he would not sign a WHL Standard Players Agreement prior to the draft with any team. Despite this, the Kelowna Rockets used their first selection on Bowen. When asked about the selection, Bowen said, “I am honored to be drafted by such a great organization as Kelowna.” When asked about his decision to play with the Chiefs versus the WHL Bowen said “ thanks to guys like Tyson Jost, Dante Fabbro and Dennis Cholowski, the BCHL has demonstrated to younger players like myself that you can play Junior A and College and not fall off the radar with Hockey Canada and the NHL. I am very excited to join the Chiefs and UND to further my hockey career.”
This past season Bowen captained the Abbotsford based Yale Bantam Prep Lions where he scored 33 goals and added 29 assists in 29 games. Adding to his resume, Bowen was voted an All-star at each tournament the Lions competed in this year. He also captured the Top Scorer award at the Pat Quinn Classic and was named Tournament MVP at what is widely held as the top Bantam Tournament in Western Canada—The John Reid Memorial in St. Albert, Alberta where he led the tournament in scoring with eleven goals and ten assists points in six games. It was the third highest total put up at the tournament behind only Jonathan Toews (36 points) and Michael St. Croix (23 points). Bowen has been nominated by the Hockey Now magazine as the British Columbia Minor Hockey Player of the Year.
Chiefs Head Coach and General Manager Jason Tatarnic is thrilled to have Ethan committed to Chilliwack, “Anytime you can add a player with pedigree that Ethan has your organization has to be extremely happy. When you look at what Ethan has accomplished to this point you have to be full of smiles knowing he will be in a Chief uniform. By choosing the college route we know we will play an important part in his development for the two seasons minimum and that is very exciting for our organization. On behalf of the Chief organization and Chiefs fans welcome to Chiefs family Ethan.”
