Hockey dream rising in Phoenix
Pursuit of career overseas taking junior B player to Grand Canyon University
‘‘ “They’re all for me going and they are there to help me through whatever I have to do.” BRENDEN BOUVIER
Niagara Region and the Niagara Frontier? Hotbeds for hockey.
Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun?
Hotbeds for heat.
Unlike Canisius College in Buffalo or Niagara University in Lewiston, N.Y., Arizona is far off the beaten path when it comes to turning prospects into pros.
Yet Phoenix is exactly where Brenden Bouvier is taking his desire for an education and his hopes for a pro career overseas. Instead of remaining close to home and majoring in sports management at Canisius or Niagara University, the 19-year-old Niagara Falls native has accepted a scholarship to play Division 2 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) at Grand Canyon University.
“When they flew me out to check out the school, I just kind of felt very comfortable there,” the Saint Paul Catholic High School graduate said. “It’s a private, Christian college, and I like to be part of the community and they give pack to the community.
Another point in GSU’s favour is that Bouvier, who spent two seasons in junior B with Buffalo Regals and Pelham Panthers, felt more at home two time zones away than he did during other campus visits.
“The hockey team and the coach seemed more of a family than I’ve ever really seen,” he said. “They do things as a team that some teams don’t generally do.
“They were all-around great guys to be around.
The son of Rene and Kim Bouvier stressed this wasn’t a slight against the other schools that expressed interest in him.
“All the schools were great opportunities, but I kind of fell in love with the area of GCU.”
Bouvier, who averaged in the high 80s in his final year at Saint Paul, doesn’t need a refresher in geography to know that hockey in the desert is a niche sport, the immediate success of the Vegas Golden Knights notwithstanding.
However, he isn’t worried that the constant heat — and lack of snow — will take his mind off hockey went January temperatures in Phoenix plunge to an average of 20 C.
“I’m pretty much set for hockey and school,” Bouvier said. “I’m setting my sights on going there and doing well in hockey and doing well in school.
“My goal at the student level is to be the academic student of the year.”
Bouvier was the youngest captain in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League when he opened the 2016-17 junior B season with the Buffalo Regals before closing out the season in the Canadian Premier Jr. Hockey League with the Muskoka Wild. Last season he played 28 games with the Pelham Panthers before returning to Buffalo.
He admitted it was “pretty tough” at times to play with the Regals, a team that went a combined 5-90-0-5 and finished last in the Golden Horseshoe Conference the past two seasons.
“Just being on a team like that was kind of hard to keep it going in the hockey direction,” he said. “Some people were all for going out and doing stuff like that, where I wanted to focus primarily on getting schooling and playing hockey to get that schooling.
“I kind of took it that I was there to work.”
Bouvier lost a year of postsecondary eligibility by spending the past year studying sport management at Niagara College. He thought about returning for a third season of junior hockey and leaving the dream of playing in the U.S. on a scholarship on the back burner for another year.
In the end, he decided not to risk an injury that could end that dream.
“If I broke a bone or something along those lines there, and didn’t go to school, I would have huge regrets,” Bouvier said.
“I decided to bite the bullet and go to school, and do what I got to do.”
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound leftshooting forward ranks leadership and speed as the strengths of his game as well as the quick release on his shots. He also prides himself as a “heads-up player.”
“I am able to go from one end to the other end and know where to go and get to that puck before anyone else gets there.”
GSU head coach Danny Roy expects Bouvier to bring leadership to the Lopes.
“Brenden is coming from a good junior level up in Canada,” Roy said. “He is going to help us on offence for sure, but he is going to bring that leadership aspect and be able to carry that captaincy that he had and add to our culture by being a mature leader.”
Kim Bouvier has been counting down the days until Aug. 20, the day when the eldest of her two sons will fly to Phoenix.
“My mom’s a little worried about it, she’s been having a hard time counting down the days,” he said. “She’s getting worried I won’t be able to contact them as much as they would like me to.
“But I will be there pursuing my dream and they understand that, they appreciate that and they are my biggest supporters.
“They’re all for me going and they are there to help me through whatever I have to do.”
Attending a faith-based institution was “another plus” in GCU’s favour.
“Going there and knowing that they’ll try to keep you on the straight and narrow as much as they can, but the rest is up to you, was kind of one of my biggest decision makers.
“My parents are for that as well.”