Niagara teen taking the next step
Ambrosio hopes to land a spot on Canada’s under-18 hockey squad
Colby Ambrosio has a chance to represent Canada on the world stage for a second time.
The 16-year-old Welland native is hoping to build on the experience he gained participating in the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. He’s been invited by Hockey Canada to take part in the selection camp that will choose Canada’s under-18 squad that will play in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Breclav, Czech Republic, and Piestany, Slovakia, on Aug. 5-10.
Ambrosio is among 44 players who have been invited to the camp, which takes place July 26-30 in Calgary.
“It was a really good experience,” Ambrosio said of the under-17 tournament in New Brunswick. “It was fun playing with some of the top-ranked players in Canada.”
But this time around, Ambrosio, who will be attending and playing hockey for Boston College in the NCAA’s Division 1, knows the road to grabbing a spot on the team is going to be tougher.
Three Canadian squads take place in the under-17 event while the under-18 tourney boasts only one.
“I like my offensive game, for sure, but I’m working at being a two-way player and getting better in the defensive zone, as well.” COLBY AMBROSIO Tri-City Storm forward
“There’s a lot of really good players,” Ambrosio said.
“There’s nothing set in stone,” he added.
A centre, Ambrosio said he is modelling his game after his favourite player, Mitch Marner.
“I like being a fast, skilled player who likes to make good passes,” Ambrosio said.
If he has something he would consider to be a weakness, it would be in his defensive game.
“I like my offensive game, for sure, but I’m working at being a two-way player and getting better in the defensive zone, as well.”
Getting to this point has taken a lot of work and a bit of travel for Ambrosio. After playing midget hockey with the Southern Tier Admirals, he spent the 2017-18 season playing for the Buffalo Junior Sabres before spending this past season in Kearney, Neb., with the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League, where he registered 12 goals and 12 assists, and was a plus-11 in 57 games.
As Ambrosio sets his sights on making the national squad and then heading off to Boston College, there is also the fact that he’ll be eligible for the 2020 NHL draft, where he could wind up following the path of other Wellanders such as Daniel Paille and Dan Girardi into the pro ranks. So far, he’s playing it cool. “Honestly, it’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little kid,” Ambrosio said. “But I try not to think about it too much. We’ll see what happens at the end of the season.”
Canada hosted last year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup with games being split between Red Deer, Alta., and Edmonton, and captured gold on home ice, defeating Sweden 6-2 in the final. In all, Canada has won gold 22 times in 28 years of summer under-18 competition, along with two silver medals and one bronze.