After their Fred Page Cup Final appearance, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs are preparing for next season. The new recruits listed on the BCHL website include defender Lenny Greenberg and forwards James Lyver and Wyatt Blace.
Greenberg and Lyver are 2005-born skaters from American hockey schools while Blace comes from a Vancouver Island hockey academy. Both Greenberg and Lyver are American players and Blace is a 16-year-old rookie. They will all join the Bulldogs for the 2023-24 season.
Related: Alberni Valley Bulldogs: Graduating players and eligible returnees
While the Bulldogs will recruit more players, this article will profile Greenberg, Lyver, and Blace. Before that, I will talk about several departing players.
Leaving the Dawg Pound
Among the list of players leaving are both Bulldogs goaltenders. Backup goaltender Campbell Arnold has aged out of junior hockey and starting goaltender Hobie Hedquist will head to the University of North Dakota.
Next season, the Bulldogs will need a completely new goaltending tandem. Originally, 2003-born Callum Tung was the backup to Hedquist in 2022-23 but an injury caused the Bulldogs to acquire Arnold.
Later in the season, Tung played junior B for the North Van Wolf Pack and his hometown Port Moody Panthers. He also signed as an affiliate player for the Bulldogs and I expect him to rejoin Alberni Valley’s roster for the 2023-24 season.
As for other potential goalies, the Bulldogs could recruit from the Port Alberni Bombers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. During the 2022-23 season, the Bombers iced three goalies.
2005-born netminders Felix Plendl and Lukas Toth formed the main goaltending tandem while fellow 2005-born goalie Owen Bonthuis played six games for the Bombers. Of course, under Hockey Canada and B.C. Hockey’s non-sanctioned policy, none of them could play for the Bombers while affiliating with the Bulldogs in 2023-24.
Greenberg’s path to Alberni Valley
Greenberg played minor hockey in California with the Los Angeles Jr. Kings hockey program. From 2018 to 2020, Greenberg spent two seasons with the Jr. Kings.
Starting in 2020, Greenberg traveled to Rochester, New York to join the Bishop Kearney Selects hockey program. For two seasons, the El Segundo, California product played 137 games for a pair of Bishop Kearney teams.
During the 2021-22 season, Greenberg earned some junior A experience, playing two games for the U.S. Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede. He didn’t register any points with the Stampede but produced an impressive 17 goals and 80 points in 81 games for the Bishop Kearney Selects 16U AAA squad.
For the 2022-23 season, Greenberg split time between two hockey programs. He played 30 games for the Belmont Hill School team and posted 12 goals and 27 points. He also played 14 games for the Boston Jr. Eagles 18U AAA team, finishing with a goal and two assists.
Greenberg is committed to Sacred Heart University to start his NCAA Division I career in the 2024-25 season.
Lyver and Blace’s paths to Alberni Valley
During the 2019-20 season, Lyver started playing prep hockey at St. Mark’s School. In 28 games, Lyver notched two assists. The following season, he joined the Cape Cod Whalers 15U AAA team. In 26 games, Lyver scored a respectable nine goals and 27 points
In 2021-22, Lyver split time between the Whalers 16U AAA team and St. Mark’s. He had 13 goals and 25 points at the high school prep level, and 12 goals and 24 points at the 16U AAA level.
Last season, Lyver played a third season of U.S. high school prep hockey at St. Mark’s. In 29 games, he tallied 17 goals and 38 points.
As a 2007-born recruit, Blace hasn’t been out of minor hockey for long. During the 2020-21 season, Blace joined the Westcoast Wild U14 team in the non-sanctioned Hockey Super League. Because of pandemic restrictions, he didn’t play any games.
For 2021-22, Blace joined Pacific Coast Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. In 30 games for the U15 Prep program, Blace scored 22 goals and 37 assists. This past season, the Duncan, B.C. product played for the PCHA’s U18 Prep team. In 31 games, Blace scored eight goals and eight assists.
What each player brings to the Bulldogs
Greenberg is an offensive blueliner who’s consistently put up solid assist totals. Two seasons ago while playing 16U AAA hockey, he notched 63 assists in 81 games. Last season, Greenberg posted 15 assists in 44 games split between 18 AAA and prep school hockey.
Greenberg’s totals remind me of Victoria Grizzlies alumnus Clark Hiebert, who led the BCHL in assists with 48 helpers in 48 games in 2021-22. As for Lyver, he’s an offensive forward. His totals in 2022-23 bode well for the skills he’ll bring to the Bulldogs this coming season.
Meanwhile, Blace has proven he can play with veteran players. Barring an early departure to an NCAA school, he could be in Alberni Valley for the next several seasons. Like Greenberg and Lyver, Blace is an offensive player.
Several of the Bulldogs top scorers have departed for the NCAA and Alberni Valley needs new players to contribute to the offense. It’ll also need returning players to step up their offense as well.
There are many more recruits coming for the Bulldogs, so we’ll see who joins Greenberg, Lyver, and Blace in “Hockey Valley”.
