Johnston's Road to The VHLM

[Alex 3,199]

Growing up in Vancouver Alex Johnston had a childhood like many young Canadians, the early mornings at the community rink, after school running to the pond behind the church Where he would pretend he was playing for the Vancouver Wolves in the finals of the Continental Cup and staying there until the sun goes down. Once it got dark Johnston would head home to turn on that nights Vancouver Wolves game with his brothers.

 

Once Johnston reached high school that's when hockey started to become more competitive as he started playing at a AAA level with the Vancouver spirit. Throughout his years of minor hockey Johnston was never the best player putting up an average of 15 goals and 20 assists in 42 games during his minor hockey career. Johnston was named team captain in his final year of midget hockey as he led his team to a provincial championship.

Following his minor hockey career Johnston joined the Vancouver Giants of the WHL where he would play for 3 years. During Johnston’s rookie year he struggled only scoring 4 goals and 18 assists for 22 points in 62 games. The following year Johnston battled injuries the entire season tearing his ACL in the 5 game of the year and returning with 8 games left on the year, Johnston would only play 1 game in the playoffs missing the rest due to a concussion. During the 13 games Johnston played that injury riddled season Johnston had 6 goals and 7 assists for 13 points. In Johnston’s third and final year with the Giants he was named an alternate captain, for the second time in 3 years Johnston would play an entire season and would have a career year putting up a staggering 45 goals and 62 assists for 107 points in 62 games. Sadly Johnston’s season would end on a sour note as the Giants would fall flat in the final game of the memorial cup to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies during the tournament Johnston would continue his dominance scoring 7 goals and 3 assists for 10 points in 5 games.

 

After leaving the WHL due to being over age Johnston decided to join the VHLM and attempt to break into the pro hockey scene. To accomplish his lifelong goal Johnston decided to sign a 1 year contract with the Yukon Rush, as it is very important to him that he stays close to his hometown of Vancouver. His VHLM career got off to a tough start as Johnston tore his ACL during off-season training causing him to miss the first 20 games of the season. Since the start of his VHL career Johnston’s short career it has had some ups and downs. Starting off with scoring a goal in each of his first 2 games Johnston would then go through a long rough patch scoring only once and adding one assist over the next 9 games. Recently Johnston is having some success scoring 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 2 games, hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Alex_J32
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