DESTRY STRAIGHT

We’ve been training Destry 3x a week for the past couple months here at Forma Athletics.  In all my years of training I would say he’s the most mature and driven teenage athlete I’ve ever worked with.  If Destry brings the same attitude and work ethic to the rink that he does the gym, I would expect him to have a very successful hockey career.  Below is a recent article from the Province News.

Destry Straight isn't wasting time looking over his shoulder.

In fact, he's got the perfect name for a hockey player who gets to where he needs to go in the most efficient way possible.

Yet when the senior at West Vancouver's Sentinel Secondary was lacing up his skates in the fall for his first season of junior hockey, he figured there might be a few crooked miles to skate before he'd fulfil his dream of playing NCAA Div. 1 hockey in the U.S.

Here's the straight-up truth: Straight changed things in a hurry.

"I didn't think coming in that I would be leaving after one season," admits the 6-foot-1, 170-pound centre, who exploded on the scene with the BCHL's Coquitlam Express, and was named the league's Coastal Conference rookie of the year. "I thought it was going to be a two-to-three-year thing. But over the course of the season, my expectations went up. I think I actually could have done more than I did."

Despite his inexperience, Straight's combination of high-tempo fluidity and creative vision immediately opened all the right eyes.

In late October, just a handful of weeks into the season, NHL Central Scouting had graded him with an 'A' rating, which is assigned to "a must-see player who is predicted to be a potential first-or second-round draft selection in the upcoming NHL draft."

Straight, who led all BCHL rookies in points this season (21-46-67 in 59 games), was the only BCHL player assigned that designation.

"Did I expect to lose him after a year?" asks Express head coach Jon Calvano, who also coached Straight at the major midget level. "No. Destry exceeded expectations as far as his readiness to make the step to the NCAA and a school like Boston College. But he didn't exceed my expectations as far as what he could do in terms of his offensive output."

In its most recent rankings, Central Scouting had Straight 100th among North American skaters in advance of the NHL's entry draft in Minnesota.

No matter what happens at the draft, Straight is thrilled to be headed for Boston College, a school which has played in 22 Frozen Four semifinals, and has won four national championships.