Thorold natives honoured at nationals

Two graduates of the Welland Tigers triple A midget program continue to earn their stripes on the ice playing university hockey in the Maritimes.

Defenceman Randy Gazzola, 24, and forward Hunter Garlent, 23, both Thorold natives, were recognized when the USPORTS men’s hockey championships got underway in Fredericton, N.B., with an awards night.

Gazzola, who is in his fourth season patrolling the blue line for the New Brunswick Reds, the top seed at the eight-team tournament, received the R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award as the most sportsmanlike player in the nation.

He was also nominated for the Dr. Randy Gregg Award which went to Kendall McFaul of the Saskatchewan Huskies.

The honour recognizes community service performed by players.

Garlent was named a firstteam All-Canadian after scoring 10 goals and collecting 31 assists in 30 games in his second season with the St. Mary’s Huskies.

Garlent, who went directly from triple A minor midget in Welland to the Guelph Storm in the Ontario Hockey League, wound up his five-year OHL career playing two full seasons and part of a third with the Peterborough Petes.

The five-foot-nine, 172-pound right-hand shot had 18 goals and 27 assists in 30 games in his rookie season at St. Mary’s. He is studying commerce at the Halifax university.

Gazzola, a first-year MBA student, finished the regular season with eight goals and 18 assists and had a plus-minus rating of plus-13. In 30 games he amassed just eight minutes in penalties.

He played triple A minor midget in Welland in 2009 and major midget the following season before making his junior hockey debut with the Thorold Blackhawks.

Gazzola spent a season in the Ontario Junior Hockey League with the Trenton Golden Hawks followed by two years split between the Halifax Mooseheads and Val-d’Or Foreurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey

League.

Gazzola and his UNB teammates will be back on their home ice Saturday playing the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in the semifinal round at X-Men.

St. Francis eliminated the Brock Badgers with a 6-2 victory on opening day of the four-day tournament in the New Brunswick capital.

Brock was seeking its first-ever Canadian championship in men’s hockey.