JAY O’BRIEN

The Penticton Vees announced today that 1999-born forward Jay O’Brien has committed to the Vees for the 2019-20 season. He was the 19th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers.

O’Brien, from Hingham, Massachusetts, comes to Penticton after spending the 2018-19 season with the Providence Friars in the NCAA.

Prior to heading to the NCAA, O’Brien was named the United States High School Hockey All-USA Player of the Year after his senior season at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts.

In 30 games that year, O’Brien scored 43 goals and added 37 assists for 80 points. The Flyers selected him in the draft after that season.

In four years of prep hockey, split between Thayer Academy and Dexter School in Brookline, Massachusetts, O’Brien scored 86 goals and 102 assists in 120 games.

This past year, O’Brien was a member of Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Vancouver and Victoria helping Team USA to a silver medal.

The 5’11’’, right-shot centre will spend his 20-year-old season with the Vees before returning to the NCAA ranks in 2020-21.