RED LAKE, Ont. – The English River Miners of the Superior International Junior Hockey League announced Thursday that goaltender Michael Lenko has committed to attend Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. and play for the Clan’s men’s program, who are members of the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League.
The Gabriola Island, B.C., native will join SFU after wrapping up his Jr. A career with English River of the SIJHL.
The English River goaltender will be the second Miners alumnus on the Clan`s roster joining Ryker Moreau who will be going into his 3rd season with SFU.
“We think he can come in and fight for the starting job,” offered SFU head coach Mark Coletta.
“He has a lot of minutes at the Junior A level and he’s proven to be a number one guy,” added Coletta.
In two SIJHL seasons with English River, Lenko has gone 46-26-1-5 in 79 appearances with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage.
He helped guide the team to an SIJHL Bill Salonen Cup finals appearance last season.
“SFU fans should be excited about their new puck stopper stated English River head coach and general manager Derek Sweet-Coulter.
“He’s been outstanding for us and his numbers these past two seasons speak for themselves.”
Off the ice Lenko capture the team`s Community Service award for organizing many of the community events at local schools.
“He really understands the importance of being in the community, our teams motto is “humility, integrity, courage” and he lives that,” said Sweet-Coulter.
Lenko plans to study Political Science at SFU.
Boasting six members schools the BCIHL features five teams in B.C. as well as one in Washington State.
For more information on the English River Miners, visit their website at englishriverminers.com or on social media via twitter.com @E_R_Miners or facebook.com/EnglishRiverMiners.
With files from Simon Fraser University Athletics