With exam period upon most university students, and Atlantic University Sport and U Sports seasons in their traditional December break, most student-athletes are enjoying some down time.
Most, but not all.
There is little down time for Stephen Anderson of Morell and Randy Gazzola of Thorold, Ont., of the UNB Varsity Reds men’s hockey team.
They’ve joined a team of U Sports all-stars in St. Catharines, Ont., for a pair of games against the national junior team hopefuls. Hockey Canada is holding its junior team selection camp in St. Catharines, a short distance from Buffalo, New York, site of the 2018 World Junior Championship tournament.
“It’s a big honour,” said Anderson. “Phil and Jordan, last year, said it was a really good experience, so when we heard about it, we were thrilled and excited.”
Former Varsity Reds Phil Maillet and Jordan Murray were part of last year’s U Sports all-star team that took on the 2017 national junior team prospects.
“Looking at our roster, there’s guys from the AUS, there’s guys from Saskatchewan and Alberta. Our team is going to have some good players,” said Anderson. “There’s a lot of first and second round NHL picks on the world junior team roster, and they’re trying to make a team, but I think it’ll be two highly competitive games and it should be a lot of fun.”
Gazzola is equally as excited, maybe even more so.
St. Catharines is a stone’s throw from his hometown of Thorold.
In fact, the town of about 18,000 people is contributing more than its share this week.
Along with Gazzola, Thorold native Hunter Garlent, of the Saint Mary’s Huskies, joins the U Sports team, and Thorold’s Conor Timmons, a member of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, is among the invitees to the national junior team selection camp.
“For me it was a goal that I wanted to accomplish and when I heard it was in St. Catharines, my hometown, that was awesome. I’ll have close to a hundred people there,” said Gazzola. “It’ll be fast. That’s just kind of the way the NHL is going now and all those kids are drafted to the NHL for a reason. They all have skill and they can all move the puck and skate. I expect it to be fast, and they’re trying to make a team. If I were trying out for the junior team, I wouldn’t be holding back whatsoever.”
Varsity Reds head coach Gardiner MacDougall of Bedeque says his program has been fortunate to have been provided special opportunities, such as spots on the U Sports all-star teams.
“Stephen and Randy have certainly earned this selection by their play in the first half of the AUS season,” said the coach of the two-time, defending U Sports men’s hockey champions. “Stephen has high-end skill with terrific speed and has been one of our most improved players, so this experience of playing the top upcoming players in our country will certainly challenge him to get to a new level of performance.”
“Randy has a great deal of experience at the Memorial Cup and three U Sports national championships, so this is a tremendous occasion for him to play in front of family and friends in his home town area,” said MacDougall.
On top of the experience, both players recognize they’re playing a small role in what’s become a holiday season tradition for Canadian hockey fans.
“It’s definitely something that I’ve looked forward to every year,” said Gazzola, of the World Junior Hockey Championship. “It’s been a good way to end the year, especially when Canada does well, then you’re up and you’re going into next year happy.”
“Watching the Boxing Day and New Year’s games, it’s always been something I’ve looked forward to and pretty much done year after year,” said Anderson.
Gazzola and Anderson and their U Sports all-star teammates faced the national junior team prospects in game one of their series on Wednesday. Game two goes at 5 p.m. AT today.
Both games will be live streamed on www.tsn.ca.
