Five Nova Scotian athletes to watch in 2018

Sports fans in Nova Scotia will remember 2017 as the year Sidney Crosby led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a third Stanley Cup championship, the year gymnast Ellie Black won silver at the world championships and the year the Cape Breton West Islanders won the national midget title.

2018 has its share of promising prospects, too.

Next month at the Winter Olympic Games, two Nova Scotians will be playing for the Canadian women's hockey team. Jillian Saulnier of Halifax and Blayre Turnbull of Stellarton are the first women from the province to play hockey for Canada at the Olympic Games.

Both hope to bring gold medals back home from Pyeongchang.

Here are five other Nova Scotian athletes to watch out for in 2018:

Lindell Wigginton

Hard-core basketball fans in Nova Scotia will tell you Lindell Wigginton will be the first Nova Scotian to play in the NBA.

Wigginton is now playing NCAA Division 1 ball for the Iowa State Cyclones.

He finished up the first half of his rookie season at a torrid pace, scoring 20 points or more in five of his team's last seven games.

With a dad who grew up in North Preston, N.S., and a mom who was raised in Halifax's Uniacke Square, he has two basketball hotbeds pulling hard for him as he continues his quest to be a pro.

Jade Hannah

2017 was a breakout year for Jade Hannah.

The 15-year-old swimmer from Halifax wants to be among the world's best and is rapidly rising through the ranks toward that goal.

Hannah won three medals last summer at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Indianapolis.

Her ultimate goal is to make Canada's swim team for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Up next, she hopes to be named to Canada's team for the Commonwealth Games to be held this year in Queensland, Australia.

Custio Clayton

In December, Custio Clayton of Dartmouth dominated Cristian Coria of Argentina to claim the minor World Boxing Organization International welterweight title.

Clayton, another athlete with North Preston roots, is now under new management and continues to fight out of Montreal.

2018 could be the year he gets a shot at World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council champion Keith Thurman of the U.S.

Fans might remember the controversial decision that led to Clayton losing to the U.K.'s Freddie Evans in the 2012 Olympics in London. That loss denied him a medal.

Julie Moore

Halifax's Julie Moore, 18, is the early favourite to win Atlantic University Sport's women's volleyball rookie of the year.

The 5-11" commerce student is one of the reasons why the Dalhousie Tigers are off to such a great start this season.

In nine matches she already has a league-leading 108 kills.

Moore has already secured a spot on Canada's National Junior team.

She is following in her mother's footsteps. Karen Fraser (now Karen Moore) also played volleyball at Dalhousie and played for Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Shane Bowers

Freshman forward Shane Bowers of Halifax has gotten off to a great start with the Boston University Terriers.

The 18-year-old rookie has 14 points in 19 games.

Drafted in the first round by the Ottawa Senators in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Bowers is looking to continue improving his game.

Following a standout career with the Halifax Macs midget team, Bowers took his game stateside to Iowa, where he played two seasons with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League.

That route helped him secure a scholarship to Boston University.