Growing up in New York offers no shortage of attractions to catch someones eye. For a young Conner Hutchison, that attraction happened to be hockey and the New York Rangers.
“My mom used to have Rangers season tickets when I was four or five,” Hutchison said. “I remember her bringing me to Madison Square Garden to watch the Rangers play. My brother and I used to always go to the rink in my town and he and my dad taught me to skate. It kind of took off from there.”
Once he joined organized hockey Hutchison started on defence and by his own admission it was because he wasn’t that “skilled.” While he’s listed at 5’11’’ and 181 pounds, Hutchison grew early and was bigger than most of the kids on his team which added to the reasoning to put him on the back end.
His size didn’t continue to trend upwards but Hutchison feels with the game of hockey progressing the way it has, defenceman don’t need to tower over their opponents.
“A lot of my favourite players are defenceman that are under six feet,” he said. “Shayne Gostisbehere is around 5’11’’ and he went to South Kent too. You see a lot of defenceman in the NHL now who are under six feet. Their skating ability is what carries them. As you mature as a player you can sort of control the game more from the defensive side. You can see everything as you’re carrying the puck up the ice and create offence from defence.”
Gostisbehere finished third in NHL defenceman scoring this past year with 65 points as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.
South Kent School is a private, boys-only boarding school in South Kent, Connecticut. Hutchison spent the last four years of his life there and admits not going back will be a big change for him.
“It was basically my home for four years and I became really close with a lot of people there,” Hutchison said. “It’s definitely going to be weird to be changing my whole scene. All my pre-game rituals are going to be different after being the exact same for the last four years.”
While the school was less than two hours away from his hometown, Hutchison says his school and hockey schedule didn’t allow him to get home very often, limiting visits to holidays.
He was able to get away to visit Penticton last season, however. A chance for Hutchison to scope out a potential landing spot for himself before he heads to the University of Vermont in the future.
“I had seen some pictures before I came out there,” Hutchison said of his visit. “I didn’t know exactly what to expect but when I got here I was blown away. The rink was amazing, the fans were unbelievable and the atmosphere during the game made it an incredible trip.”
Hutchison also had previous knowledge of the BCHL as his older brother, Nick, played two seasons with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks from 2014-2016.
Despite being impressed with everything Penticton had to offer following his trip, Hutchison still wanted to take his time weighing his options for his first year of junior hockey.
“I got traded to Chicago in the USHL and I knew some of the guys in their organization pretty well,” he said. “I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt so I went out to see it before I made my decision, but after comparing them and Penticton I just thought the Vees were the better spot for me.”
Hutchison’s move to the Vees is a substantial one in a lot of ways, considering how far it is from home and the fact he’s moving to a new country. But not everything will be new as an old teammate and roommate, Drew Elser, will be along for the ride.
“We roomed together for my first two years at South Kent so when I heard he was looking at Penticton we talked about nice it would be to live together and play together again,” Hutchison explained. “I’ve known him for about eight years now and we’re both coming from different situations so we’re both going through the same sort of thing. I think it’s good that we’re going to be doing it together.”
Following a breakout season in which he scored 51 points in 49 games, Hutchison feels he’ll be able to bring a lot to the table for his new team. He also knows how high the expectations are for the Vees each year, but his own expectations match them.
“Just from my visit and all the things the coaches have told me about the tradition, they always seem to be one of the best teams in the BCHL,” he said. “I expect that we’re going to be one of the best teams the league and hopefully go all the way to the RBC Cup. For myself I want to do whatever I can to help the team win and work everyday towards getting ready for college hockey. I want to work on being stronger in the defensive zone. I think I do well with creating offence but I don’t want to give up too much on the other side of the puck.”
Fans in Penticton have the same hopes, and the long journey for Hutchison and his teammates begins August 20 in training camp.
