Elkhorn’s Taylor Sanheim is looking to extend his junior hockey career for as long as he can.
The son of Kent and Shelly Sanheim is in his fourth and final season. His team – the Penticton Vees - is hosting the Western Canada Cup. At the event, the champions from the four western provinces plus a second B.C. team fight for two berths into the Royal Bank Cup. The RBC Cup is Canada’s national Junior A championship.
“I’m looking forward to playing all the top teams in each province, and working towards a national championship,” Sanheim wrote about the WCC in a social media interview.
The hockey world can be small at times. Also making the WCC are the Manitoba champion Portage Terriers. Fellow Elkhorn products Layne Toder and Josh Martin compete for Portage, who the Vees play on May 4. Sanheim actually used to be a Terrier.
“It will be pretty weird,” Martin wrote, in an email interview, about playing against Sanheim. “He's been a best friend of mine for a long time. Neither of us like to lose so once the game starts I'm sure it will be pretty competitive.”
The Vees picked up Sanheim in early January. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound forward provided five goals, eight points, grit, and experience in 13 regular season games.
“Taylor's best attributes on the ice are his physical play and an extremely quick release when he shoots,” Vees head coach Fred Harbinson wrote in an email interview.
An injury kept Sanheim out of the lineup late in the regular season and early in the BCHL playoffs.
“Taylor showed mental strength dealing with a broken jaw that forced him to miss the final month of the regular season and the first six games of the playoffs.
“Once Taylor was inserted into the lineup for game seven versus Merritt he made an immediate impact which carried over throughout the Interior Division Final vs Vernon.”
At the Empire-Advance deadline, the Vees were headed to a seventh game against the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BC Hockey League championship series. As Penticton is hosting the WCC, both teams will play in the event regardless of the outcome of the finals.
Sanheim joined the Vees early this year and has greatly enjoyed his time with the perennially strong squad. What has he enjoyed the most?
“The fans. We get one of the best attendances in CJHL,” said Sanheim, whose team averages 2,981 per game, according to hockeydb.com. “So having that makes every game that much more fun to be a part of.”
In 2013-2014, the former Yellowhead Chief split his rookie season between the Dauphin Kings and the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. The last two seasons he has played fulltime in the major junior Western Hockey League for the Calgary Hitmen.
For two seasons in Calgary, Sanheim was teammates with his twin brother, Travis. Travis played this past winter in the professional American Hockey League, just a step away from the NHL, with the Leigh Valley Phantoms. Although it is not easy, the Sanheim brothers remain big supporters of each other.
“We still continue to talk and keep in touch as much as we can. Obviously, the time change throws a loop into things, but we still talk and give each other advice on what we can do to improve our game. We try to watch each other's games as much as possible, but it's sometimes difficult because we usually play on similar nights as each other.”
Taylor started this season with Calgary, but ended up in the Junior A ranks with the Vees, who acquired him from Portage. Sanheim has had a lot of fun playing junior hockey.
“You meet so many people that you are going to remember for the rest of your life,” he wrote. “It's been a pleasure getting to know so many great people over my career as I have been with a few junior hockey teams.”
