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Undrafted DeFazio completes long road to NHL I No one ever said it was easy to make it to the NHL, but for DeFazio, getting to the Oakville Beaver Staff game was the easy part. "It's one of those things," he said. "Notht was close to midnight Saturday when ing has ever been easy for me, so to play the bus pulled into the Utica Memo- in my first NHL game after all of that, it rial Auditorium parking lot after the almost seems fitting." two-hour drive from Rochester. Earlier that A 1999 study by Jim Parcels showed that evening, the Comets had held on for a only one in every 1,154 players in Ontario 3-2 win, their second victory in as many make the NHL. Only one in 129 make it nights to improve their American Hockey as far being drafted by an Ontario Hockey League-best record to 10-1-2. League team, and less than half of them After dropping off his gear, Brandon ever play a major junior game. DeFazio drove home, looking forward to So what chance did DeFazio have? He a much-deserved day off. He was among the 128 of 129 had not settled in very long not picked by an OHL team. when the phone rang. "The OHL draft is such Phone calls at 1 a.m. rarely a big thing at that age," he bring good news, but Desaid. "It's all about that and Fazio answered. if you don't get picked, it can The call didn't last long. be devastating, and it was for DeFazio hung up and headme." ed back to the arena. The DeFazio said a strong supOakville native collected port system of family, friends his equipment and drove and coaches helped him to Syracuse. He had a few get over it. He put his head hours before his 6 a.m. flight, down and continued to work but sleep was the furthest hard. He made the Milton thing from his mind. There IceHawks as a 17-year-old wouldn't be time to sleep and was traded to his homeduring the hour-long flight town Oakville Blades at the to Detroit, either. Brandon DeFazio end of his rookie season. A His mind was still racing Former Oakville Blades player point-a-game campaign with when he boarded his conthe Blades the following year necting flight to Los Angeles. earned him a scholarship to "I knew if I didn't get some sleep, I'd be Clarkson University, where he played four in trouble," he said. "I had to sort of force years, leading the Golden Knights with 14 my brain to shut down." goals and 26 points in his senior year. DeFazio managed a few hours of restStill, DeFazio heard those who said he less sleep and when he arrived on the west would not play beyond college. He quickly coast 12 hours after answering his phone, proved them wrong by joining the ECHL's there was a car waiting for him. After his Wheeling Nailers for the end of the seacross-continent adventure, it was a short son. He put up nine points in 10 games 15-minute drive to the Honda Center, and even earned a two-game call-up to the where hours later he would make his NHL AHL. debut for the Vancouver Canucks. DeFazio earned a full-time job in the AHL by Herb Garbutt 31 | Friday, November 14, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com The OHL draft is such a big thing... If you don't get picked, it can be devastating. Brandon DeFazio passes the puck while being checked by Ottawa's Milan Michalek. DeFazio made his NHL debut Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks and was back in the Vancouver Canucks' lineup Tuesday versus Ottawa before being sent back down to the American Hockey League Wednesday. | photo by Jeff Vinnick -- Vancouver Canucks Abbey Park sweeps Tier 2 volleyball finals by John Letherby Special To The Beaver They say it's not how you start, but how you finish. That was the case for the Abbey Park Eagles Wednesday in the Halton Secondary School Athletic Association junior and senior boys' volleyball finals against Iroquois Ridge and King's Christian Collegiate, respectively, at Sheridan College. Both Eagles teams came out on top to sweep the two Tier 2 championships that were up for grabs. On the junior side, the Eagles compiled a perfect regular season, coming into the championship game taking on the Iroquois Ridge Trailblazers at 11-0, including a regular season win over their opponent in September. But Abbey Park's two-set sweep of the final by scores of 25-22 and 25-19 to win the 2014 title didn't come without its struggles early. A team that lost just one set all season long, the Eagles gave up six straight points early to Iroquois Ridge, and were forced to call a timeout, back on their heels trailing the eventual silver medalists in the first set 8-3. That respite seemed to get the Eagles focused, storming back to take a 14-12 lead. The Trailblazers didnt let giving up the lead bother them, coming back to tie the set on five different occasions, but Abbey Park pulled away again late. Set 2 started out much the same as the opening game for the champions. Iroquois Ridge built a 4-1 lead, but this time, the Eagles didnt require a timeout. They built a 16-9 lead before the Ridge staged a comeback of its own, chipping away to close the see Eagles on p.34 in 2011 and while bouncing from WilkesBarre, to Bridgeport to Utica, has improved his point totals every year, from 16 to 25 to 34. He also hasn't been shy about using his 6-foot-1, 215-pound frame. So when his phone rang early Sunday morning, DeFazio had the ultimate ammunition for his detractors. "Maybe I'm ignorant to the fact of how people perceived me," he said. "I refused to believe it if people didn't think I could make it." If he needed a reminder that he had truly made it, his new teammates gave it to him prior to Sunday's game against the Anaheim Ducks with a traditional NHL initiation. DeFazio led the team on to the ice, but when he turned around, the Canucks were waiting at the bench, leaving him to circle the ice alone. "I knew they did it to Bo (Horvat), but I wasn't sure if they would for me, being an older guy," the 26-year-old said. "I'm happy they did, though. It will be a great memory to reflect on later." DeFazio said he quickly got over the jitters of playing in the NHL for the first time. "Given the circumstances, I was just relieved to be there," he said. "After the first shift, it's just hockey and you want to seize the moment." DeFazio played six minutes on a line with Horvat and Nicklas Jensen in a 2-1 shootout victory for Vancouver. And while his road -- and multiple flights -- to the NHL was different than that of his linemates, both NHL first-rounders, it got DeFazio to the place he always believed he would reach. Undrafted by the OHL. Undrafted by the NHL. None of that matters anymore. "It got me on a different path," DeFazio said, "but it worked out best for me." -- Herb Garbutt can be followed on Twitter @Herbgarbutt THE GYM NAUTILUS Est. 1982 Convenient, clean, and friendly. 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