What does Burnaby Winter Club's new hockey director Maco Balkovec have in common with Scott Neidermayer, Sandis Ozolinsh and Alexei Zhitnik?
Answer: They are all defencemen taken in the 1991 National Hockey League draft.
Balkovec was a fifth-round draft pick of the Chicago Black Hawks back in '91 and was the highest junior A player selected out of the B.C. Hockey League that year.
The former Burnaby Minor product was an all-star blueliner in his final season with the Merritt Centennials before earning a full scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, where he scored 16 goals and recorded 80 points in four seasons with the varsity Badgers.
After knocking around the East Coast Hockey League and playing one season in Europe in the German first division, Balkovec returned to his university roots where he became a highly regarded high school teacher and hockey coach in Wisconsin.
He has the distinction of taking two different schools to a state championship in the past five years and was twice named coach of the year in Wisconsin.
Balkovec will take over the direction of hockey at the winter club on July 1 and intends on bringing that same level of results.
"I could not be more excited about the opportunity to return to B.C. and take over the reins as hockey director for BWC," Balkovec said in a club release. "My goal is to strengthen Burnaby Winter Club's reputation as the premier destination for hockey development in Western Canada, a place where we emphasize comprehensive and complete development of every athlete in our program."
Winter club president Ryan Wilson described Balkovec as a "high level communicator and coach with a vision for the club that emphasizes player development."
Balkovec's coaching philosophy is to grow talent from within, ensuring equal access to development opportunities to all aspiring players.
"It's more touches on the puck and more coaches encouraging and correcting finer details of the game that will make a difference for all of our players," Balkovec added.
Burnaby Winter Club offers comprehensive programs for players as young as four years of age on up to the new Hockey Academy program for midget-aged athletes.
