Headrick named top male athlete at University of Prince Edward Island

By Sam Laskaris

GARDEN RIVER FIRST NATION – Owen Headrick managed to get not one but two great surprises Apr.4.

Like all other university students, Headrick, a member of Garden River First Nation, has returned home to finish classes online because of nationwide school closures forced by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Headrick, who is in the Applied Communications, Leadership and Culture program at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), needs to complete some assignments and complete an online exam to finish off his school year.

Headrick, 22, was also a star defenceman with the UPEI Panthers.

During the 2019-20 campaign, his second with the Panthers, he finished third in team scoring, racking up 32 points, including 13 goals, in 30 regular season matches.

For his efforts, Headrick was named as the most valuable player of the UPEI men’s hockey team in an online ceremony held on Apr.4. To his surprise, later that night Headrick was named as UPEI’s male athlete of the year.

“It was pretty amazing this weekend to get that,” Headrick said.

Headrick said he was at home following the UPEI awards ceremony online with his four siblings and his parents.

By being named the MVP of the men’s hockey squad, Headrick was also automatically in the running for the school’s top male athlete award.

But he was somewhat surprised to win it.

“I knew a couple of other guys had great individual years too,” he said.

UPEI also has men’s varsity teams in cross-country running, track and field, basketball and soccer.

But it was only the MVPs in the two other team sports – basketball and soccer – that were in the running with Headrick to win the top male athlete accolade.

Headrick had registered 22 points (five goals and 17 assists) in 28 regular season outings during his first year with the Panthers.

But he was unsure how he would fare during his second season with the UPEI squad because he had shoulder surgery in May 2019.

“I was a little nervous starting the year,” he said. “I didn’t get to train and skate as much as I wanted to.”

But it didn’t take Headrick, who was an assistant captain with the Panthers this season, long to figure out he could still excel on the ice.

“I was a lot more confident out there,” he said.

And that’s why he was able to not only keep a pre-season goal but also readjust it.

“I knew I wanted to do better than last year,” he said.

As the season went along and he saw that he was earning his share of points, Headrick felt he was capable of averaging a point per game.

“I wanted to try and score 10 goals as well,” he added.

Panthers’ head coach, Forbes MacPherson, felt Headrick was a deserving recipient, not only of being his squad’s MVP but also UPEI’s top male athlete.

“Owen was a big part our team this year and he assumed a leadership position,” he said.

MacPherson was also rather impressed with the stats Headrick registered.

“Throughout the whole country in a league that is absolutely stacked with all-star defencemen, Owen was second in scoring [and] first in goals,” he said.

Headrick was one of three Indigenous players on the Panthers’ roster this season.

The UPEI lineup also included forward Troy Lajeunesse, a member of Dokis First Nation, and defenceman Doug Blaisdell, a member of Oneida Nation of the Thames.

Like Headrick, both Lajeunesse and Blaisdell were also in their second season with the Panthers.

Lajeunesse, a left winger, had a dozen points, including five goals, in 30 matches. And Blaisdell netted a goal and added six assists in 27 outings.