SFU Hockey is pleased to announce a commitment for the 2019/20 BCIHL season from South Shore Lumberjacks forward McKullen Astill.

“A big body who skates just as good as anybody in our league, shoots the puck well, and definitely somebody who can score,” says head coach Mark Coletta.

“We need some size up front, we’re not the biggest team upfront or the heaviest team upfront, so I think he adds a little bit of that.”

The 6’0” forward is well-travelled, starting his junior career in Norway — where his family was living at the time — with the Stavanger Oilers U18 and U20 teams from 2014 to 2017.

He returned to Canada — he’s originally from Edmonton — for the 2017/18 to play Junior A with stops playing for the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL and the Humboldt Broncos of the SJHL, before joining the South Shore Lumberjacks — located in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, about an hour west of Halifax — of the Maritime Junior Hockey League in January 2018.

In the 2018/19 season — his first full season with the Lumberjacks — he was nearly a point-per-game player, putting up 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists) in 50 games.

“I’d say I’m skilled, fast, I’ve got decent size — I put on a bit of weight this past summer, so I think that’ll help me out. I like to play both ends of the rink, but I also like to chip in offensively when I can,” Astill says of his game.

After university — he is studying Economics — he wants to play pro hockey in Norway.

“That’s always been a goal of mine, so I want to go somewhere I’m going to be able to play and have an opportunity to prove myself,” he explains. “I thought this was going to be the best fit for me — not only hockey-wise, but in terms of academics, SFU’s a really good school.”

Astill joins a 2019/20 SFU recruiting class which includes:

– Langley Rivermen (BCHL) forward Trevor Ayre
– Delta Ice Hawks (PJHL) forward Daniel Rubin
– Yorkton Terriers (SJHL) goaltender Andrew Henderson
– Selkirk College Saints (BCIHL – transfer) goaltender Patrick Zubick
– Nipawin Hawks (SJHL) defenceman Colten Gerlib
– Nipawin Hawks (SJHL) forward Christian Bosa
– Connecticut Jr. Rangers (USPHL) forward Takato Cox
– AJHL veteran Adamu Tanaka
– Surrey Eagles (BCHL) captain Ty Westgard
– Richmond Sockeyes captain Matt Brown
– Edmonton Oil King (WHL) defenceman Jordan Dawson
– Red Lake Miners (SIJHL) defenceman Matt Krawiec
– North Van Wolf Pack (PJHL) captain Justin Lee
– Richmond Sockeyes (PJHL) Assistant Captain Jake Keremidschieff

SFU takes on TWU and UBC for the 2019 Captain’s Cup in September prior to kicking off the 2019/20 BCIHL season in October.