Basara Opts For BCHL's Vipers, Not WHL's Raiders:

This was in the Prince Albert Daily Herald Newspaper:

Basara opts for BCHL's Vipers, not WHL's Raiders

by John MacNeil

Published on June 9th, 2010

Marcus Basara has politely declined an invitation to join the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Raiders had been courting Basara since they listed the speedy forward last fall, but he decided this week to sign with the junior A Vernon Vipers in his native British Columbia.

Basara, the top scorer with the Canadian midget champion Notre Dame Hounds this past season, wants to remain eligible to play U.S. college hockey, so he opted against the WHL.

“I had a good, long conversation with both my parents and we came to the conclusion that I couldn’t really make the decision to go to the WHL yet,” Basara said from the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame campus in Wilcox, Sask.

“I really wanted to go the NCAA route because that’s kind of where I grew up. I grew up around the BCHL and watching it and seeing those guys develop in that league (and move on to U.S. college). It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do.

“The WHL was never really too much of an option (for me). It being presented to me this year has been a huge confidence boost in my career so far.”

Raiders player-personnel director Dale Derkatch and coach-GM Bruno Campese had multiple meetings with Basara and expressed their confidence in his ability to play major junior.

The 17-year-old winger from Coquitlam, B.C., attended Prince Albert’s spring camp just two weeks ago and he continued to weigh his hockey options.

“I just made up my mind, probably on the weekend,” Basara said. “I knew I had to come to a conclusion on what I wanted to do. And I did that. It was tough. It really was. I wouldn’t lie to you. It was on my mind quite a bit and I just wanted to get it off my mind.

“It was a huge decision that took me a long time to make, because like I told both Bruno and Dale, I’d get up in the morning and sometimes I’d feel that I’d want to go to Vernon, and sometimes I’d get up in the morning and want to go to Prince Albert. It was just kind of a teeter-totter back and forth, not really knowing what I wanted to do.

“The thing about going to the BCHL, this route right now, is I can always still go back and play in the WHL one day, if that’s what I decide to do in the future. But the bad thing about it is you can’t really reverse the other way.”

The NCAA doesn’t permit major junior players to play within its ranks.

Basara hasn’t ruled out a jump to the WHL in the future, but his immediate plans are to report to Vernon for the 2010-11 season and try to earn a scholarship within a couple of years.

“I’m just going to play hockey and have some fun and see where it takes me,” said Basara, who has a week left in his Grade 11 studies at Notre Dame.

“I’m hoping to get some (scholarship) offers, playing in the BCHL. I know a lot of schools look at Vernon as a really highly touted place to get players, so I’m confident with where I’m going in that respect. It’s the path I felt my heart took.”

The Vipers have won back-to-back Royal Bank Cup titles as the Canadian junior A champions.

They scouted Basara last November in Prince Albert, while he was playing with the Hounds in the Ice Mania midget tournament.

“It’s going to be a new-look team,” Basara said of the Vipers. “We’re losing lots of older players to school and age, so it should be fun. I’m excited. Being a little bit closer to home, I know my parents are excited to be able to come watch me play.”

Basara and Notre Dame teammate Daniel Dale were among the top performers in fitness testing at the Raiders’ spring camp.

“I think Prince Albert has a great organization,” Basara said. “I thought everything with the way that whole camp was run was awesome. I had a lot of fun. It was really good to meet all the guys up there, and that option is always going to be there.”