Thompson's Justin Valentino will continue his hockey career in Wild Rose Country next season, having committed to play for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in Alberta, which compete in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) system.
"Tino was great player and great person for us," stated assistant coach Marc Berry of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Dauphin Kings, the team Valentino joined midway through his third and final MJHL season and finished his junior hockey career with at the 2014 RBC Cup national junior A hockey championship. "He's highly skilled and can play the game at top speed. Tino is a guy we relied on heavily throughout the postseason, he was a key guy on our special teams. You can't talk about Justin and not mention his character. He was a leader for us on and off the ice. He's a first class person. He'll do very well at the next level and we were proud to have had him in a Kings jersey."
Valentino spent the first two-and-a-half seasons of his MJHL career with the Swan Valley Stampeders before being traded to the Kings last Dec. 9. He scored four goals and added 16 assists in 30 regular season games with Dauphin. He had three goals and three assists in 13 MJHL playoff games, four points in four games at the Western Canada Cup and one assist in five games at the RBC Cup in Vernon, B.C.
"It was a great run," said Valentino in an announcement on the Kings' website. "It was a great way to end off my junior career. I wouldn't have wanted it to end with any other guys."
The former Norman Northstar had 47 goals and 87 assists in 152 games with the Stampeders over four seasons, including career highs of 23 goals and 31 assists for 54 points as a rookie in the 2011-12 season, when he also added three goals and four assists in six playoff games and was named to the MJHL all-rookie team. He followed that up with 18 goals and 29 assists in 60 games in his sophomore season, as well as two assists in five playoff games.
Valentino, who will join former King Guillaume Naud in Lethbridge, is the sixth graduating player from Dauphin who is moving on to the CIS this season.
Valentino scored 23 goals and 42 assists to the lead his hometown midget AAA Northstars in scoring in the 2010-11 season, along with four goals and two assists in five playoff games.
