Birkhof ’s NCAA dream takes a detour
With NJCAA field lacrosse season shut down by COVID-19 pandemic, Peterborough player jumping to Harford Community College in Maryland next season
Dustyn Birkhof’s collegiate lacrosse career is taking a detour.
The 19-year-old Peterborough native is leaving the Mercyhurst North East Saints, in Erie, Pa., after an aborted freshman season, to join the Harford Community College Fighting Owls in Bel Air, Md.
The Crestwood Secondary School grad played just three games for Mercyhurst, scoring four goals and three assists, before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) season to a premature end in March.
The news that Mercyhurst University was going to close its North East satellite campus left Birkhof in a quandary.
“We were informed it was going to close down next year and I was going to be the last graduating class from that college,” Birkhof said, “but then they told us they were closing down this year because of COVID-19. It’s unfortunate. I wish I could have stayed and played there for my coach. He’s a great guy.”
With the assistance of Saints coach Logan Tousaw. Birkhof began talking to several NJCAA and NCAA schools.
“I decided I wanted to go to junior college again so I could finish my degree and then hopefully go onto a four-year school from there,” said Birkhof, who is taking a two-year course in criminal justice. Because the pandemic brought the season to a premature end Birkhof will not lose a year of collegiate athletic eligibility. His goal is to earn an NCAA scholarship where he’d have three years of playing eligibility remaining.
“I hope I can put out next season and show schools what I can do to help them. I’d like to go to a four-year school and get a higher degree in criminal justice whether it be policing or corrections or something along those lines,” he said.
Perennial NJCAA powerhouse Onondaga Community College showed interest but
Tousaw swayed him to join the No. 4 nationally ranked Fighting Owls.
“My coach had just nothing but good things to say about Harford. It’s a great school. Great academic wise. Great kids go there. They have a great lacrosse program. They were on track this year to winning the national championship and I think we have a good shot next year,” Birkhof said. “Everything about the school was all positive.”
Harford announced Birkhof’s signing on Twitter on Monday by tweeting, “Big Time Signing up in the Great White North! We are very excited to Officially Welcome Dustyn Birkhof to the Harford Lacrosse Family! Dustyn is a big, strong, and very skilled player who comes to Harford from Peterborough, ON.”
It was a close call between Harford and Onondaga but Birkhof said players from the Fighting Owls helped push him in their direction.
“A bunch of kids on the lacrosse team at Harford reached out to me. I spoke to a lot of them and it was like I fit right in perfectly with all of them. We had an instant connection,” he said.
Birkhof played minor lacrosse in Peterborough but stepped away from the sport for a few years to concentrate on hockey.
He played AAA hockey in the GTHL for three years when his father Chad Birkhof worked in Toronto. He returned to play junior C hockey for the Lakefield Chiefs and went north to play for Elliot Lake in the North Ontario Junior Hockey League.
It didn’t work out and Birkhof returned to Peterborough to complete high school at Crestwood where he played field lacrosse for the Mustangs who hosted the OFSAA AA field lacrosse championships last year. That’s where he drew interest from Mercyhurst.
“That’s when I decided I wanted to play lacrosse,” he said. “I’m happy where I’m at now. If I hadn’t decided to come home I don’t think this would have happened.”