This week’s Olds Grizzlys Player Spotlight goes to Presley Kerner! Kerner, otherwise known as ‘Kerns’ in the room, joins us from Kelowna, British Columbia. The 2007-born forward stands at 6’3, 175 pounds and brings some major junior experience to the Grizz. So far this season, Kerner has scored 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in 22 games since joining the Grizzlys in the middle of October. Kerner had a bit of an adjustment period, and it took him a while to get the monkey off his back, but since then, Kerner’s been a huge part of the team’s offense. Kerns plays a big role in both the power play and penalty kill with his strong two-way play, which goes hand in hand with his faceoff ability, as he is known for having a high faceoff percentage within the league. In his last two games before the Christmas break, Kerns had a goal and an assist in each game, playing a huge role in each game.
Kerns joins us from the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL, where he started the year playing 4 games and scoring 1 goal, but was called up back at the beginning of November for a game in Medicine Hat. Before that, Kerner had played in 20 total WHL games, going back to the 2022-23 season when he made his major junior debut. Kerner was selected with the 65th pick in the 3rd round of the 2022 WHL Bantam Draft. In his WHL Draft year, he put up 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points in 27 games with the Okanagan HA U15 Prep team. Kerns played 3 years in the Okanagan HA system, playing two years in their U15 program and one year in their U18 program, before making the jump to the Northern Alberta Xtremes U18 Prep program to be closer to his WHL team.
Catch Kerns and the rest of the Boys in Black & Gold when the AJHL season resumes in the new year at the Olds Sportsplex when the Drumheller Dragons are in town for a Sunday afternoon matchup on January 4th!
Skip the line and secure your seats today: tickets.oldsgrizzlys.ca
