2021 NHL Draft Selection Attended Third Edmonton Oilers Development Camp This Summer
By Joshua Boyd / NCDCHockey.com
Shane Lachance has seen a little bit of everything the past few years as an Edmonton Oilers draft pick (from 2021) and prospect, including the fully off-ice 2024 Oilers Development Camp held this summer. It was a different experience, being off the ice this time, but he enjoyed and took advantage of every single minute.
“This year was my third development camp. It was all off-ice, a lot of team-building – we played golf and pickleball, for instance – and there were only draft picks invited this year. It was good to get know a lot more guys in the organization,” said Lachance, a member of the 2020-21 Boston Junior Bruins of the NCDC. “We had very different sessions, like cooking and nutrition classes, and sleep and performance sessions. They just hired a new Senior Director of Player Development, Calle Larsson, so it was good to get to know him.”
Hitting The Mark At Hub City Tampa
Lachance, a rising sophomore at Boston University, was one of three draft picks selected directly out of the NCDC that season, more than any other league of its level that year. Lachance, a native of Andover, Mass., joined the Junior Bruins out of Tabor Academy during what is still commonly referred to as “the COVID year.” That year, the COVID-19 pandemic saw several new state laws regarding interstate sporting events among other health-related regulations. The NCDC designed Hub City Tampa to create a concept bearing some resemblance to the NHL’s “bubbles” of that year. Hub City Tampa saw all NCDC teams go to Wesley Chapel, Fla., where players lived on a resort and were restricted to travel via bus only between the rinks where they played and the resort, a closed community concept. Lachance was grateful for the opportunity to continue his hockey career at a very uncertain time in the world. In 25 games, he put up 16 points, and added six points in six playoff games as the Junior Bruins – still the defending Dineen Cup Champions from 2019 – reached the Dineen Cup semifinals in Pennsylvania.
“The NCDC and the Junior Bruins were great to me. I owe a lot to Coaches Mike Anderson and John Butler. I didn’t know what to expect going into that year and if I’d be playing. The coaches were in contact with me and asking if I wanted to come and play,” said Lachance. “[Hub City Tampa] wasn’t anything that I’d ever experienced before, it was really cool. It felt like an olympic village, all the players being in the same spot. You’re on the golf course, you’re taking online courses in the morning, you have a practice, and often your afternoons on non-game days were free. It was definitely a crazy time in the world. The NCDC had a lot of good players to play against, and that set me up for success going into Youngstown [of the USHL].”
The Junior Bruins were not the only USPHL organization Lachance suited up with. He also played for the Islanders Hockey Club at the 14U level.
“The rink was right there at Merrimack College, and I was living right around the corner in Andover. It was my first chance to play against much better players, and we had a lot of good players on the team that year,” he added.
Terrier Time
The summer prior to his NCDC debut, Lachance had committed to the Boston University Terriers, where his father Scott (currently Head Scout for the New Jersey Devils) played his college hockey. Shane’s grandfather is the legendary Jack Parker, one of the most successful and highly decorated coaches in hockey history, never mind college hockey. Parker patrolled the BU bench as head coach from 1973 through 2013 (and he was an assistant coach beginning in 1969).
He’s been ecstatic to be able to carry on the BU Terriers family tradition. After a strong 83-point USHL career over two seasons with the Youngstown Phantoms, Lachance posted 27 points in 40 games as a freshman with BU.
“The first year at BU, the only thing better that I could have asked for was to win a National Championship,” said Lachance. “It was good to get that first year under my belt. As a younger group, you play in those big games and you can hopefully turn some of those losses from last year into wins in the future.
“I’ve been able to shift myself from being a fan to being a BU student-athlete and hockey player. The first few weeks, it was kind of surreal. It’s just important to establish the culture for young players, because you know what BU means to alumni and all of those people that have been through those doors,” Lachance aded. “You want to continue that legacy.”
Shane’s NCAA Division I commitment to BU and NHL Draft selection both came within a calendar year, and he remembers his draft day very well.
“It was a good day in 2021. I got drafted in the sixth round. We were watching for a while, with family and some buddies. I was actually in another room when I heard them go nuts. I came in and saw my name under the Oilers logo. Being drafted is something you dream of since you’re younger, and you also know it’s the first step in a long process,” said Lachance. “Edmonton is obviously a great team, with two of the best players in the world. Watching them this year [make the Stanley Cup Finals] was exciting and it obviously motivates you for the future. I’m taking it year by year and seeing what happens.”
The NCDC congratulates Shane Lachance on reaching his third Edmonton Oilers Development Camp and his successful first season with Boston University.
