Former OHL champ taking school route
Brandon Saigeon commits to the University of New Brunswick after playing pro hockey in Utah
“I just think with their history of sending guys to play pro, I think there is no better program.” BRANDON SAIGEON UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK MEN’S HOCKEY FORWARD
A Niagara native who won an Ontario Hockey League championship before turning pro in the Colorado Avalanche organization will continue his career competing at the collegiate level.
Last month, Brandon Saigeon, 22, of Grimsby began studying business at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, the provincial capital. He opted to take advantage of his OHL education package and resume his schooling due to the uncertainty COVID-19 created in hockey circles.
“When I made the decision, I didn’t even know there was going to be an American (Hockey) league season, and there were East Coast (ECHL) teams shutting down,” he said in an interview from Fredericton. “I just thought right now, this is kind of the best decision for me — to play pro after I go to school, however long I stay.
“I still have the chance to get some schooling done while I still have my OHL package.”
Saigeon became a free agent after the 2019-20 season when his one-year AHL contract with the Colorado Eagles, the top farm team in the Avalanche organization, expired.
“I could have signed with anybody,” he said. “But I just think with the uncertainty of COVID right now, that played a factor.”
Saigeon, who captured an OHL championship with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2018 and was taken by Colorado in the fifth round of that year’s National Hockey League draft with the 140th pick, said New Brunswick’s “winning culture” tipped the scales in the school’s favour when the time came to plot his future course in the game.
“I’ve heard nothing but great things about the coaches, players and the entire program,” he said. “I know a lot of guys on the team, they’re high-level players and good people which was definitely a factor in my decision to choose UNB.
“I just think with their history of sending guys to play pro, I think there is no better program.”
Defenceman Kade Landry and right-winger Isaac Nurse, Saigeon’s one-time teammates in Hamilton and part of the 2018 title team, are members of New Brunswick’s 2020 recruiting class. They did not play their first year at the school with COVID-19 cancelling all post-secondary sports in Canada.
The chance to reunite with Landry and Nurse factored in Saigeon’s decision to go east to resume his education and continue his hockey career.
“They’re both character teammates, on and off the ice, and they bring a lot to the team. I think having them here will make my transition easier,” he said. “From our time together in Hamilton, I was able to get to know them well.
“They’ve become really good friends of mine.”
On Friday, he trained with some of his new teammates for the first time following 14 days of self-isolation in his basement apartment.
“It seems like a really solid character group of guys. I’m looking forward to working together with them.”
Saigeon has become an old pro at adjusting his internal clock to living in a different time zone.
New Brunswick, in the Atlantic time zone, is one hour ahead of his family’s home in Grimsby as the Timex ticks. In comparison, West Valley City, Utah, where he lived during the 201920 season with the Utah Grizzlies, was two hours behind.
“It’s one hour, so it’s not too big of a difference. It’s pretty easy to get used to.”
New Brunswick men’s hockey head coach Gardiner Macdougall said Saigeon will be a welcome addition to a conference powerhouse that has won the last three Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference championships.
“Brandon demonstrated an elite performance level during his OHL career, capped by his 92-point overage season,” the Reds bench boss said. “He has great offensive components, including his puck instincts, an excellent shot, and a relentless compete level.”
Player personnel director Dylan Taylor was instrumental in bringing Saigeon to Fredericton.
“Dylan was his usual persistent and enthusiastic self, and that helped Brandon make the decision,” Macdougall said.
Saigeon, a graduate of the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs minor midget triple-a program, had 105 goals and 146 assists for 251 points in 304 regular-season games over five OHL seasons, mostly with the Bulldogs. In his over-age season, he combined to score 37 goals and collect 55 assists for 92 points with Hamilton, 40 games, and the Oshawa Generals, 28 games.
His stock rose heading into the 2018 NHL draft when he led the Bulldogs in playoff scoring with 18 goals and seven assists in 21 games.
Saigeon ranks his shot and hockey IQ as his biggest strengths.
“As a teammate, I bring leadership and a team-first mentality,” he said. “Ultimately, I want to win and will do whatever it takes to help the team.”
He already had experience playing in The O before cutting his canine teeth with the Bulldogs. He spent 2014-15 netting eight goals and adding 18 assists in 62 games for the Belleville Bulls in the franchise’s last season before moving to Hamilton.
While the UNB Reds aren’t competing, due to the loss of the 2020-21 season, they continue to train and practise, albeit at reduced numbers due to pandemic protocols in northern New Brunswick.
“There are not a lot of cases at all,” Saigeon said. “It wasn’t the main reason I came here, but it’s nice that cases aren’t really an issue out here.”
He had to isolate for two weeks upon arriving in New Brunswick from Ontario. In addition to counting off the days until he could get back on the ice, Saigeon also kept himself busy doing homework and watching some Netflix.
“I had a couple of exams that I finished off.”
After not hitting the books during his season playing in the ECHL, Saigeon had a “little bit” of difficulty getting back into the school mindset.
“I took two online classes throughout the summer and now I am taking five. It was nice that I took those two just to get myself into a little bit,” he said. “I had a feeling I was going to be coming to UNB.”
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound, leftshooting centre was last on the ice in 2019-20, when he scored eight goals and collected 18 assists in 51 games with the Utah Grizzlies.
In 2013-14, Saigeon saw action in three regular-season games and two in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs with the junior B St. Catharines Falcons.