‘We brought size, we brought talent’
Brock Badgers men’s hockey coach Williamson ‘extremely excited’ about incoming crop of recruits
Six players with Canadian Hockey League experience are among the 2020-21 Brock University men’s hockey recruiting class.
Marty Williamson, who is returning for a fourth season as head coach of the Badgers, reloaded the roster with nine forwards, three defencemen and two goaltenders, including four who saw action in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Golden Horseshoe Conference last season. Average height of the incoming recruiting class is sixfoot-two.
“It was a great recruiting season for us. We filled every need with talent and character,” he said. “We brought size, we brought talent, and my belief is the character is there with these guys.
“I’m extremely excited about this group and can’t wait to get on the ice to build chemistry.”
While Williamson is “pretty excited” over what players such as Tyler Burnie and Cole Tymkin, formerly with the Kingston Frontenacs and London Knights, respectively, can bring to the table, he stopped short of giving the recruiting class that also includes Golden Horseshoe goaltender of the year Aidan Hughes a grade.
“It’s hard to put a grade on this if we haven’t started anything,” he said with a chuckle. “But I sure like the group of kids that we’ve brought in.
“But, until you really get playing games and get more competitive, you learn a lot more about the guys and that’s the process we’re going through right now.”
Varsity sports at Brock have been cancelled until at least January, as they have at all programs under the U Sports and Ontario Colleges Athletic Association umbrellas.
However, the Badgers have already had one practice and intend to get together weekly for the time being.
“We know the earliest we’re playing is January, so we’re starting pretty light right now,” Williamson said.
So far, 21 players have come in with another seven or eight staying home and learning online “until we know there’s a season 100 per cent.”
“Then they’re going to come in,” he added.
Williamson is as confident as he can be there will be a season, given the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.
“I’m extremely positive and hoping that we’re heading in that direction. But that’s 100 per cent out of my control,” he said. “When we see the numbers kind of go up like they have the last week, it’s disappointing because I know that could lead to things being shut down.
“It goes back and forth. I was pretty hopeful when our numbers were so good but, now that they have spiked up a little bit, you have seen second semesters that are going to go online. It really is kind of a roller-coaster ride. Every two weeks, you get a different feel for where things are going.”
Other than making face-toface meetings and campus visits off-limits, COVID-19 didn’t throw that big of a monkey wrench into Brock’s recruiting plans.
“It was pretty status quo. I think there are a few guys who decided to turn pro, but it really hasn’t affected it,” Williamson said. “The only thing we weren’t allowed to do in person, such as school visits and that.
“That was about the only change. There are still a lot of hockey players looking to go to school, use their school packages or just get with their education.”
He said the pandemic forced Brock to come up with “creative ways” to connect with potential players. “They made up a great orientation-type video that was sent to the players about the school,” he said.
Prospects on Brock’s recruiting radar were known quantities heading into the pandemic.
“There were a lot more conversations on the phone, just because we weren’t allowed to meet face-to-face,” the twotime Ontario University Athletics men’s hockey coach of the year said.
“We watched these guys play hockey and did our homework as far as talking to coaches, either knowing them personally or just knowing their game.”
Before taking over the Brock program, Williamson spent six seasons in the Ontario Hockey League as head coach of the Barrie Colts followed by six more as general manager-head coach of the Niagara Icedogs. He said adjusting to recruiting student-athletes for a university — from drafting players for an OHL team — didn’t happen overnight.
“It took a while. I had been 12 years in the OHL and going through drafts but, of course, we did deal with it a little bit with free agents and getting them to come to the program, whether it was the Barrie Colts or the Niagara Icedogs,” Williamson said. “Just trying to get a draft pick to come. Maybe they had other options, like the NCAA. I wasn’t quite sure how the dynamics of education first was really going to play out.”
Unlike the CHL, which includes the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Western Hockey League as well as the OHL, student-athletes drive the bus when it comes to recruiting in U Sports, not the coaches
“They get to pick and choose. When you draft them, at least in the OHL, you own their rights. They don’t have as many options,” he said. “With a player you’re trying to recruit, they’ve got options right across the country, east to west and everything in the middle. There are a lot of schools, and you need to do your homework on your player and be able to present a need for them hockey-wise, but to answer the school question is extremely important.”
When it comes to attracting players, the 57-year-old Markham native feels “pretty lucky being at Brock.”
“The sport management program is considered one of the best in the country. Our business school is in the top five,” he said. “We have so many good programs going at Brock. That really does help us.”
The community and the surrounding area likewise are aces in the hole for Williamson.
“There is a lot to like about living down in this area,” he said. “To me, that’s a benefit for me when I’m recruiting.”
Incoming forwards include Joshua Bourne from the British Columbia Hockey League, Christophe Cote from the Central Canada Hockey League, Cameron Gaylor from the Ontario Junior Hockey League, Justin Kyle from the Niagara Falls Canucks, D’artagnan Joly from the QMJHL, Matthew O’brien from the Ontario Junior Hockey League and Bourne and Tymkin, both with the Caledonia Corvairs after playing in the OHL. Samuel Duchesne, who played in the OHL with the Flint Firebirds before going to the QMJHL, and Sam Huston from the Manitoba Junior Hockey League are the blueliners in the recruiting class.
Aidan Hughes, formerly with Caledonia after stints in the OHL with the Sarnia Sting and Oshawa Generals, and Mario Peccia, who played for Kingston and Oshawa in the OHL before wrapping up his career in the OJHL, are the goaltenders Williamson is bringing in.