Garden River First Nation member signs pro hockey contract overseas
By Sam Laskaris
HALIFAX – Owen Headrick is taking his talents overseas.
The Garden River First Nation member has signed a one-year contract to play for the Nurnberg Ice Tigers in Germany’s top professional hockey league for the 2024-25 season.
Headrick, a 26-year-old defenceman, had bounced around between three different minor pro teams in the United States this past season.
He played 15 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League (AHL), North America’s top minor pro hockey circuit. And he dressed for five matches with the Chicago Wolves, who also compete in the AHL.
Headrick also suited up for a half-dozen contests with the Wheeling Nailers, members of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), a league that is a step below the AHL.
Headrick said his agent Dave Maloney was responsible for setting up the deal for him to play in Germany.
“He recommended it to me and thought it would be a good time to head over there (to Europe),” Headrick said.
Maloney is one of the agency partners for Guelph-based Maloney & Thompson Sports Management.
Headrick is also represented by Brian Gill, who helps handle Ontario clients for the agency.
Headrick in all likelihood would have been offered a contract by a North American minor pro franchise for this coming season, but he opted to take his agents’ advice once the offer from the Ice Tigers was presented.
“The European teams like to get their deals done early in the summer,” Headrick said.
The Ice Tigers’ organization will also provide Headrick with accommodations and transportation during the season.
“It’s nice to have a little security and know you’ll be in one place for the whole year,” Headrick said.
Headrick, however, is not quite sure what to expect from the calibre of play in the Ice Tigers’ league, called Deutsche Eishockey Liga.
“I’m kind of wondering that too,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect.”
Headrick, however, does already know a couple of players who will be his teammates in Nurnberg.
He played with fellow defenceman Cody Haiskanen with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads during the 2022-23 campaign.
“It definitely made my decision to go there a little easier,” Headrick said of the choice, once he learned Haiskanen would also be joining the Ice Tigers.
Also heading to Nurnberg is forward Jeremy McKenna, who has played for various North American minor pro squads the past four seasons. Headrick and McKenna have spent portions of their last few off-seasons training together in Halifax.
Headrick is once again spending his summer in Halifax this year, then head to Germany on Aug. 1 and report to the Ice Tigers’ training camp on Aug. 5.
Headrick said only time will tell how long he’ll play in Europe.
“It’s kind of up in the air,” he said. “I’m hoping to go there and have a really good year and then come back to North America. But I might end up staying for a few more years after that.”