Mom and dad both played for Vancouver Whitecaps, but Ben Kindel set to make noise at NHL Draft

National Post

6 hours ago

Ben Kindel's first NHL goal has to feature him kicking the puck up to his stick before firing it home. That would only be fitting.
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The 18-year-old right winger from Coquitlam, who is expected to be a first-round pick in this weekend's NHL Draft in Los Angeles, is the son of Steve Kindel and Sara Maglio, who were both standouts with their Vancouver Whitecaps teams and played soccer internationally for Canada.
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They each remain firmly entrenched in the game — with Maglio the executive director for Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer and Kindel the senior technical director for North Vancouver FC. Ben's teenage sister, Lacey, is accomplished on the pitch herself that she was part of Canada's entry in the Concacaf Under-15 championships in Costa Rica last summer.
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Ben also played soccer up until a couple of years ago, opting then to further amp up his focus on hockey.
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He was the highest-scoring, first-year, draft-eligible player in the WHL this past season, putting up 99 points, including 35 goals, in his sophomore campaign with the Calgary Hitmen. He was seventh overall in league scoring. He set a franchise record with a 23-game point streak (15-30-45) midway through the campaign.
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Elite Prospects culls together various mock drafts and has the 5-foot-11, 186-pound right-shot Kindel slotted at No. 20 overall in its consolidated ranking. Among the teams picking in that vicinity are the Vancouver Canucks, who have the No. 15 selection.
'All the teams that interviewed me asked about my parents and how playing soccer has helped my hockey,' he said earlier this week. 'Obviously, my mom and dad passed along good athletic and competitive genes. They taught me a lot about how to be professional and the mental side of sport as well.
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'It wasn't hard to tell them I wanted to give up soccer. They always knew that hockey was what I wanted do.
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'My parents didn't go through something like this. But they've talked about embracing every moment, because you never know when your athletic career might end.'
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'It's a childhood dream come true for me and my family and all the people that have supported me along the way.'
Hear from 21st-ranked North American skater and @WHLHitmen forward Benjamin Kindel ahead of the 2025 #NHLDraft. pic.twitter.com/YCLczrwqdG
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) June 26, 2025
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Kindel is represented by Vancouver agent Ross Gurney. When Gurney was starting out, one of his first clients was Steve Kindel.
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Ben says that, 'It would be a really cool thing to be a hometown player in this city,' in regards to the opportunity to be drafted by the Canucks. His favourite team growing up, though, was the Montreal Canadiens, and that's something that has been passed along from his father.
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He was a mainstay with the Whitecaps from 2000-08, when they were playing in the USL First Division and based out of Swangard Stadium. He helped them win league championships in 2006 and 2008.
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Just days before Ben was born in April 2007, Steve did an interview with Postmedia. He was asked then about what he would be doing if he was not playing for the Whitecaps. He replied, 'A rock star. Or maybe a hockey player. I'm probably a little too small to play hockey, though.'
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Steve's Soccer Canada player bio lists Italian forward Giuseppe Signori and defender Paolo Maldini as his favourite athletes, along with Canadiens/Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy. Steve's international career included the Under-20 World Cup in 1997 and Olympic qualifying in 2000.