Paul Vella is spending his final year of junior eligibility serving as the captain of the Kanata Lasers. (Robert Lefebvre/IceLevel)

Vella Spends Final Junior Year Leading Lasers
Paul Vella has bounced around to various teams and leagues during his junior career.

But the Kanata Lasers are glad the 20-year-old forward, a native of Staten Island, N.Y., has spent the entire 2016-17 campaign on their roster.

Vella, the Lasers’ captain, is leading the club in scoring. He had earned 56 points, including 21 goals, through Kanata’s first 57 matches.

For Vella, this marks his third season in the CCHL. And with the Lasers, he’s suiting up for his third team in the league.

Vella came to the CCHL midway through the 2014-15 season when he joined the Hawkesbury Hawks. He spent last season with the Gloucester Rangers before being dealt to the Lasers in the off-season.

Prior to coming to Canada, Vella suited up for five different American junior clubs in five different leagues.

Burke Leading League In Three Star Selections
Being a league veteran in his final year of junior eligibility, the Ottawa Jr. Senators were counting on forward Jaren Burke for some leadership this season.

And the 20-year-old has not disappointed.

Besides leading the Jr. Senators in scoring, with just a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season schedule, Burke was also leading all CCHL players in another category.

Through the Jr. Senators’ first 54 matches, Burke had been selected as one of the three stars of their games 20 times.

He had been chosen first star on five occasions. Burke had also been named second star three times. And he was picked as third star a dozen times. 

League-wide stats on 3 Star leaders are also kept. Individuals receive five points if they are chosen as the first star of a game. Three points are awarded for those who are second start. And a single point is given to those who are the third star.

Though he was leading the league in the number of times he was a star, Burke’s star point total of 46 points wasn’t the highest for 3 Star leaders.

Charles Levesque of the Hawkesbury Hawks had the most points (71). He had been named first star nine times, second star on seven occasions and third star twice.

Row Heading To Queen’s
One of the CCHL’s most familiar faces in recent years will be heading to Kingston next season to commence his university career.

Forward Alex Row, who has spent the past five seasons with the Kemptville 73’s, has agreed to join the Queen’s Gaels.

Row has served as Kemptville’s captain the last two years. Prior to that, he was an assistant captain for one season.