By Daniel Nugent-Bowman
If there’s a Hollywood director out there searching for the next blockbuster, look no further. Brandon Giroux’s season has been scripted to perfection.
The 12-year-old goaltender for the Ottawa Sting Minor Peewee Rep B has endured the trials and tribulations associated with can’t-miss films throughout this year. It is a story about overcoming the odds and succeeding when least expected.
It started in September, when just after his making his team, Giroux broke his arm while skateboarding. Instead of sitting back and watching his teammates, Giroux participated in practices with a brace over his catching hand and resumed playing in early October.
“I wasn’t able to practice for three practices, but I made sure I attended all the practices and [exhibition] games,” he said. “After I got back from breaking my wrist, I was still getting the feeling of it again. I didn’t feel normal. it felt awkward to be in the net again.”
Luckily for Giroux, that awkwardness was short-lived. He rebounded nicely from his injury to the point where he got a pleasant surprise. According to his father Shawn, Giroux was asked at a tournament to tryout for the Canada Cougars Selects (1997) on Boxing Day. The Selects, a tour team that will be competing in the Finland Lions Spring Cup starting April 24, are comprised of manly ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ players from Ontario, Quebec, and the North-eastern United States. To everyone’s surprise, Giroux made the team.
“As soon as I was asked to tryout, I was shocked,” said Giroux. “It was a huge confidence booster to tryout for this team. I didn’t think I was going to make the team because I was up against the best.
“During a tournament in Belleville, a teammate’s father showed me on the computer that I had made the team. I was shocked. I think it was 10-at-night and I had trouble sleeping that night.”
While Giroux may have been in awe at first, when he talked to the other players, he was provided with the extra bit of motivation to make the team.
“When I told them I played Rep B hockey, they starting laughing. I made sure that I told them that I was going to end up on that team.”
Director of the Selects Jeff Todd said Giroux made the team because of his “strong core foundations,” something those close to Giroux are familiar with.
“Brandon is very strong laterally with a great, compact sliding butterfly,” said Stefan Nicols, Giroux’s goaltending instructor at Goaler U. “He likes to challenge the shooter and sacrifice the body when he needs to make a sprawling save.”
Now that Giroux’s season is over with the Ottawa Sting, having lost in the semi-finals to Osgoode Richmond, he can focus solely on the Selects. Giroux’s Ottawa Sting coach Bruce Perry wants him to take advantage of his opportunity overseas.
“Brandon’s a hard worker and he should benefit from this,” he said. “Not too many kids get a chance to do something like this so it should be very beneficial.”
Without question, Giroux will.
“I continued to play the same way no matter what,” he said of his play this season. “It didn’t matter if my team was down or if they were on fire. I didn’t give up and it paid off.”
Hollywood will have to wait for a bit.
Elite program keys on ‘skill and development’
The Canadian Cougar Selects tour team will actually be sending two squads to the Finland Lions Spring Cup, a 1997 team and a 1995 one.
But they also offer more to their players than just tournaments.
“It’s a focused program for kids aged eight to 13,” said director Jeff Todd. “It focuses more on skill and development. It’s not your traditional spring hockey team. We don’t just do tournaments; we bring a balanced hockey model to offer those players in the developing age an opportunity to get professional instruction.
“We also offer the camps and the tours to give [the kids] a full range of options. This is not for 14- to 16-year-olds the showcase age. We wanted to focus on kids eight to 13 to show them a high level elite skill and development program.”
While the comprehensive program offers just about everything hockey-related, because the team members don’t practice and play together much, it can make games tough until the players develop that camaraderie and gel.
“We find that whenever we enter tournaments like this from other geographical areas, the first game is usually pretty good because everyone is so energetic and playing off of emotion,” said Todd. “What usually happens in the second game is you start seeing some players come together, but it’s usually a difficult, challenging game for us.”
Todd hopes his teams can get off to a quick start by playing two exhibition games before the tournament in Stockholm, Sweden.
Cougars roster has Ottawa flavour
Of the 17 players on the 1997 Canada Cougars Selects team, six are from Ottawa.
In addition to Brandon Giroux from the Ottawa Sting; Zachar Shankar, Rideau St. Lawrence Kings; Riley Bruce, Ottawa Valley Titans; Tyson Kirkby, Rideau St Lawrence Kings; Ian Johnston, Kanata Blazers; and Joey Laird, Ottawa Valley Titans will be on the team…The Cougars leave Montreal April 17 and prepare for their first game April 24. The tournament will last three days and the team will return home the next morning. |