Garden River First Nation hockey player preparing for international debut
By Sam Laskaris
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Owen Headrick already has an impressive hockey resume and the Garden River First Nation member will be adding to his list of accomplishments next month as he has been chosen to represent Canada at the World University Games.
The multi-sport event will be staged Dec. 11-21 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
“It’s the first time I get to represent Canada,” said Headrick, a 24-year-old defenceman who is serving as the captain of the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) Panthers this season. “I’m very excited about it.”
Ten countries will be icing squads in the men’s hockey competition at the Games.
Canada will play round-robin matches against Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and the United States. A second division consists of entrants from Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Korea, and Switzerland.
“We’ve got a really good team,” Headrick said of the Canadian roster. “We’ve got a lot of the best players off of their respective university teams.”
Canada won the bronze medal at the last winter version of the World University Games staged in Russia in 2019.
Headrick is obviously hoping for a golden performance this time around.
“I think that’s our goal,” he said. “I think we’ve got a really good team as long as we can mesh together and find some chemistry.”
Canada’s 23-player roster was announced on Nov. 16.
Headrick said he was unaware of any details about the world tournament until his sister Jana, who plays hockey for the University of New Brunswick (UNB) women’s squad, had texted him about the event and told him to keep an eye out for additional information.
“I think she had seen the notice about it and said there’s a good chance I might be named to the team,” he said.
And sure enough, that’s what happened.
Gardiner MacDougall, the head coach of the UNB men’s squad, will serve as the head coach of the Canadian club in Lucerne.
MacDougall is no doubt familiar with Headrick’s play as UPEI is in the same conference – Atlantic University Sport – as UNB.
“He recruited me a couple of years ago,” Headrick said. “But I don’t really know him.”
But the hockey community certainly knows who Headrick is.
When he was 17, he played a major role with the Sault Ste. Marie Thunderbirds, who captured the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League championship. Headrick was named the league’s playoff MVP that year.
He then suited up for a season-and-a-half with the Michigan-based Lake Superior State Lakers, an NCAA Division 1 squad.
Headrick left the school in early 2017, in his sophomore season, to join the Pennsylvania-based Erie Otters, members of the Ontario Hockey League. A few months later, he helped the Otters win their league championship.
Headrick turned pro after finishing up the following season with the Otters, appearing in four matches with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers.
Instead of continuing to pursue a pro career at the time, however, Headrick returned to school, opting to attend UPEI, starting with the 2018-19 campaign.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree this past April. But he is back at the Charlottetown-based school now and is enrolled in the Masters of Education program, allowing him to also play in his final season of university eligibility.
Headrick is hoping to give pro hockey another shot at the end of this season. And he believes the World University Games will provide him with an ideal chance to further get his name out there.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for me to showcase my skills, especially in Europe,” he said. “There’s a lot of good leagues in Europe. I’d like to stay in North America but I’m not closing the door on Europe.”