The Hockey Now selected Burnaby Winter Club bantam Mathew Barzal and Northwest Giants callup Jansen Harkins from the North Shore Winter Club as the publication's co-winners of the 2012 Hockey Now Minor Hockey Player of the Year award on Tuesday.
Barzal, 15, was the first overall selection of the Seattle Thunderbirds in the 2012 Western Hockey League bantam draft. The 5-10, 160-pound centre from Coquitlam scored 55 goals and posted 153 points in 51 games this season and captained the winter club AAA team to a Western Canadian bantam championship - his second in two years.
Harkins, whose father Todd played in the NHL with the Hartford Whalers and Calgary Flames, was the second overall selection of the Prince George Cougars in this year's WHL bantam draft.
The 15-year-old North Vancouver native scored 83 goals and 153 points in 74 games this year. Harkins captained the NSWC bantam AAA team to the finals of three elite-level tournaments, including a tournament title in Chilliwack.
Both players will play next season in the B.C. major midget hockey league.
This summer, Harkins will join his longtime friend Barzal at the NHLPA mentorship camp in Toronto.
