For home games during the 2017-18 season, the Carleton Place Canadians will be profiling one player from the team. This time, the profile is on Haydn Hopkins.
Quick Bio
Birthdate: Mar. 7, 1997
Hometown: Victoria, B.C.
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 185 lbs
Shoots: R
Position: F
Hopkins is playing his first season with the Canadians in what is his final junior season as a 20-year-old.
Being from Victoria, Hopkins began playing for the Victoria Racquet Club Kings until he played his midget seasons for the South Vancouver Island Royals. In his first season with the Royals, he struggled offensively – getting two goals and 10 assists in 31 games – but he took off during his second year, tallying 17 goals and 48 points in 36 games.
“Vancouver Island is a small sample size, so we always went to Vancouver and got the real competition,” Hopkins said. “Major midget was a provincial-wide league, so that really helped me with the travel and playing against (the best of) my age group.”
The Saskatoon Blades picked Hopkins in the 2012 WHL Bantam Draft. He played four games with Saskatoon in the 2013-14 season after his final year with South Island before getting traded to the Prince George Cougars, where he spent parts of two seasons.
Hopkins also played for the Vancouver Giants before his major junior rights were picked up by the Erie Otters in the OHL during the 2015-16 season. He spent time in the BCHL during the past few seasons but was also part of the 2016-17 Otters team that won the OHL playoffs and earned a berth to the Memorial Cup.
“Obviously the OHL is a great league and I played on an amazing team under a great coach (Kris Knoblauch) and I had many great team-mates like Dylan Strome, Alex DeBrincat, Anthony Cirelli, Warren Foegele, the list goes on and on about guys who are now playing in the NHL.
“Every day in practice, I tried to take something from them, you learn as much as you can all the time and making it to the Memorial Cup, I think it was a great experience to bring to Carleton Place,” he continued.
Out on the ice, Hopkins says he tries to model his game after Brad Marchand.
“The guy can score, he can hit, he can be an agitator, he can do it all and I’m the same size as him so I really model my game after him.”
Hopkins started the season with four games for the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BCHL before being acquired by Carleton Place in early October.
“My first thought was ‘where is Carleton Place,’” said Hopkins. “It was a little bit of a surprise, but, once I looked at the record and the history of the team, I was really excited. I loved Ontario when I played in the OHL … it’s been a whirlwind since I got here. Winning’s fun and Jason (Clarke’s) a great coach and a great mentor and it’s a good group of guys here.”
In 32 games with the Canadians, Hopkins has eight goals and 21 points.
