Have dream, stick, will travel
Colby Ambrosio’s dream of playing in the National Hockey League is taking him to, of all places in the world of skates, sticks and shin pads, a football hotbed.
Nebraska, the land of corn, Cornhuskers and cornstalks as big as linebackers, isn’t synonymous with hockey development, but the United States Hockey League sure is.
It’s the highest level of junior hockey in the U.S., right up there with the Canadian Hockey League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in terms of being a pipeline fuelling NHL rosters.
What the Kearney, Neb.-based Tri-City Storm, the USHL team that recently signed Ambrosio, have all over the Ottawa 67’s, the CHL team that drafted him in the Ontario Hockey League draft, is flexibility when it comes to his future prospects.
Unlike CHL players, who are regarded as professionals under NCAA eligibility standards, players in the USHL can go on play at the college and university level in the U.S. on scholarships.
The chance to benefit from the best of both worlds — development on the ice and in the classroom, in an education that will be totally funded — tipped the scales heavily in the USHL’s favour, even before Ambrosio was drafted by Ottawa in the fourth round of the OHL draft earlier this month.
The 15-year-old son of Joe and Sandy Ambrosio of Welland is committed to Boston College, and he intends to major in business at the Catholic university and play Division I with the Eagles after he graduates from high school. That doesn’t mean the speedy playmaking centre is putting his NHL dreams on the backburner, perhaps to stay.
Ambrosio sees it as giving him more options that going to the OHL and leaving the full-ride offer from Boston on the table.
“No one is ever guaranteed a free ride to the NHL, no matter how good you are,” Ambrosio said. “I feel that going to Boston College and going the NCAA route, and getting your schooling, is a good backup plan to hopefully get a good job if the hockey doesn’t work out.”
The family told OHL general manager in the weeks leading up to the draft that Ambrosio was committed to Boston College, but he was nonetheless flattered to be selected 66th overall in the draft.
“As an Ontario kid growing up, all you hear about is the OHL,” the 5-foot-9, 161-pound centre said. “It was nice seeing my name selected, but this (the USHL) is the place I want to be.”
Kearney, in south-central Nebraska and part of a Tri-City that includes Grand Island and Hastings, is 19 hours from the family home in Welland, but being away from home won’t be anything new for Ambrosio.
He spent one year living with his aunt and uncle while playing for the North York Rangers in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and spent last year in Amherst, N.Y., billeted with Buffalo Jr. Sabres assistant coach Geoff Peters while attending Canisius High School and playing with the Jr. Sabres under-16 team.
“This is going to be my third year living away from home,” he said. “Obviously, it’s going to be different, because it’s 19 hours away, but doing something that you love to do makes it that much easier to live away from home.
“You’re not always away thinking, ‘What’s my family doing, I miss them, I want to go home.’”
He began training under Kevin Adams and former Sabres Matt Ellis and Patrick Kaleta at the Academy of Hockey at Harborcenter four years ago.
Instead of remaining in the Southern Tier Admirals triple A program in Welland, he decided to continue his hockey development in western New York on a full-time basis.
“I felt they would really help me get better and take me to the next level,” Ambrosio said. “I felt it was right for my development to go play with their program.
“They really taught me how to act like a pro, and I think that’s the main thing that’s helped me become the player I am,” said Ambrosio, thankful for the help he received from Adams, Kaleta and Ellis.
Ellis, a Welland native, saw action in 356 games in the NHL, mostly with the Sabres. He also spent parts of two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and part of one with the Los Angeles Kings.
Ambrosio’s off-season will be busy. After competing in the OHL Cup May 2-6, he will be going to Tri-City’s training in mid-June in Las Vegas, where Storm owner Kirk Brooks owns an arena.
Tri-City believes Ambrosio, a fast skater and a playmaker who has a good vision of the ice, can make an impact in his first year in the USHL.
“Someone of Colby’s stature, being a forward and being an offensive-type guy, was the direction we wanted to go,” Storm general manager-head coach Anthony Noreen said.
“Obviously, it’s going to be different, because it’s 19 hours away, but doing something that you love to do makes it that much easier to live away from home.”
COLBY AMBROSIO Tri-City, Neb., Storm prospect
“He is an extremely driven, mature young man, and that’s a testament to where he comes from and how he was brought up.
“Colby is an electric, elite, player with high-end talent who will fit perfectly on our team.”
Tri-City was among several USHL teams interested in Ambrosio, but he felt right at home the minute he arrived in Kearney.
“I didn’t have the feeling I had here at any of the other USHL teams,” he said.
“It was an unbelievable feeling, it was surreal.
“I felt really comfortable here, and this is where I want to.”
His parents likewise were impressed when they visited the city of 33,000 for their son’s introductory news conference.
“It is amazing, low crime rate, they leave their doors open. Everybody knows one another,” Joe Ambrosio said of his youngest son’s next home away from home.
“It’s a very close, tight-knit family.
The hospitality was evident when the Ambrosios attended their first game at the 5,000-seat Viaero Event Centre.
“I don’t think there was one person at the rink who didn’t come over and acknowledge us,” the father said.
In addition to thanking his family for supporting his hockey dream, Ambrosio also appreciates the help he has received from Adams, Kaleta, Ellis and Charlie Mendola of the Hockey Academy at Harborcenter, Brooks, Noreen and president of hockey operations Steve Lowe of the Storm, head coach Jerry York and assistant coach Mike Ayers of Boston College and Ryan Barnes, his agent.
Kaleta was singled out for praise.
“He was like a father to me,” Ambrosio said of the retired NHLer. “I can’t thank him enough for all he has done for me.”
Kaleta spent eight seasons in the NHL, all with Buffalo, before retiring following the 2015-16 season.