An hour after being selected first overall in the 2024 CPL-U SPORTS Draft by Valour FC, Cape Breton University attacker Owen Sheppard was still grinning ear-to-ear.

Hearing his name called during the draft at all was a thrill; it being the first name out of CPL commissioner Mark Noonan’s mouth, however, came as a complete surprise.

“It is a very special feeling,” Sheppard told CanPL.ca shortly after being selected. “I’m truly honoured and grateful for going number one. But it was a little bit of a shock to me because you don’t really hear too many things, what’s going on with the draft so you kind of just have to sit down, relax and just wait for your time to be called. It was definitely a special moment that I got to share with my friends and my family, so truly grateful.”

What followed Sheppard’s name, “from Cape Breton University,” was far less surprising. The 2023 U SPORTS national champions have now produced half (three of six) of the first overall picks in the draft’s history, as Sheppard follows in the footsteps of Cory Bent (Halifax Wanderers, 2019), and José Cunha (Atlético Ottawa, 2022).

Two of Sheppard’s Caper teammates were also selected in this year’s draft: Daniel Clarke (fifth overall, Halifax) and Jason Hartill (12th overall, York United). That makes it 15 Cape Breton players who have been picked in the draft’s history, the most of any school. Capers’ players have gone on to make 176 appearances in the league, also more than any other University.

Sheppard, however, has an opportunity to make history of a different kind should he appear for Valour, as, having been born in St. John’s he would become the first player to grow up in Newfoundland to appear in the Canadian Premier League.

“It’s definitely a special feeling being the first pick from Newfoundland, even getting picked at all from such a small province where there is not like a whole lot of competition,” said Sheppard. “But the Island is definitely developing more and it feels great. I hope in me showing that off that I can inspire other Newfoundlander footballers that it is possible, they don’t need a professional background or to be from a professional academy. So I hope I inspired a lot of people today.”

Given the path less travelled that Sheppard has taken to get to this point, Capers’ head coach Deano Morley believes that the 21-year-old is just getting started and is far from the finished product, which, given what he is already producing, is an exciting prospect.

“So proud of him; he’s a young lad out of Newfoundland, joined us who is just an unbelievably raw athlete, he’s got the pace that you just can’t coach, a change of speed that’s relentless,” said Morley. “He’s exciting, he’s raw. One of the best things about this young man is that he’s so humble, he’s so kind, that he doesn’t know how good he is. He’s not anywhere close to his ceiling.”

This past year with Cape Breton, the 21-year-old gave solid glimpse of that boundless potential, scoring nine goals in 11 regular season matches.

Perhaps his best football of the year, however, came when it mattered most as Cape Breton hosted the 2023 U SPORTS Championship. Sheppard scored a brace against Québec champions UQTR in the quarter-finals, before scoring in the penalty shootout. He then scored the lone goal against top-seeded Mount Royal in a 1-0 semifinal win, before Cape Breton would go on to beat the Montréal Carabins in the final.

“Winning that tournament in our own backyard was a moment that I can probably never relive and it will just be a special moment for the rest of my life,” said Sheppard. 

Playing for Cape Breton, however, has been a special experience in general even if it is one of the most competitive programs in the country. He says being one of three players from his school selected in this year’s draft just shows the quality of the team.

“It says a lot for our program because we bring in guys and we develop them and it is a high-intensity program, cutthroat but you get a lot out of it in the end,” said Sheppard. “As you can see we’ve got three players that went in the draft so it’s always possible.”

Valour FC have certainly taken notice of the program’s success, and made selecting players out of Cape Breton a habit over the years. Sheppard is the sixth Caper they have chosen in the draft. For head coach Phil Dos Santos, he could be an important piece of rebuilding an attack that scored the fewest goals in the CPL last season with just 25 in 28 matches.

“Just his space, his versatility and the ability he has to produce offensively in many different ways, I think it is a player that delivered in a big moment and these are things that we look at,” said Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos during the CPL Draft broadcast. “We are excited to see what Owen is able to do coming into preseason and I think it is a player that is CPL ready right now.”

To further that scouting report, Morley says that all the goals Sheppard scored this year were absolutely no accident, but a sign of the significant growth in his game.

“Out wide, brilliant, in behind defenders, his finishing, he has become a proficient finisher, he is a lot more ruthless than he used to be,” said Morley. “Hitting the target, sliding balls away, he’s just grown mentally and confidence-wise. He can flip a game on its head, he is a game-breaker.”

For his part, Sheppard is excited to join a Valour team that has a strong history of producing young Canadian talent. The past two CPL Best Canadian U-21 player award winners have come out of Winnipeg, one of whom will now become Sheppard’s teammate.

“I think that they have some really good young players as well, like Matteo de Brienne, he’s a great young player so hopefully they can give me my opportunity which they are with picking me, so wouldn’t want to let them down and just ready to get to work again,” said Sheppard. 

As with any CPL-U SPORTS draft pick, the work is only just starting for Sheppard who will now go into camp and try to earn himself a contract and a spot on the Valour roster. The coach who has worked with him closest this year, however, has no doubt that not only will Sheppard make the team, but a major impact as well.

“Can he go and do it at the CPL? Absolutely,” said Morley. “Absolutely no doubt about it that he will score goals and it won’t be in future years, he will score goals this year in the CPL, no doubt about it.”