SCSU's Andrew Gordon, Former Teammate of Sidney Crosby, Loves Life in the WCHA
Jan. 18, 2007
by Tom Reale, SCSU Athletic Media Relations
Andrew Gordon is part of a rare breed in Division I hockey. He's one of only fifteen active players among the NCAA's 59 Division I programs to hail from the Canadian Maritime provinces, and one of only seven to come from Nova Scotia.
In the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, only Gordon and fellow Nova Scotian Andrew Joudrey (Wisconsin) come from the Maritime provinces, which also include Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
"In the Maritimes," says Gordon, "the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) is 'the big show.' They have teams in New Brunswick, teams in PEI, and Nova Scotia. The Halifax Mooseheads are the closest team to where I grew up and they tend to get eight or nine thousand fans a game, and kids grow up watching these teams, that's where all the exposure is."
The NCAA considers Canadian Major Junior leagues to be professional leagues, so players who stay in camp with a QMJHL team for an extended period of time or make an appearance in a game lose their amateur status and become ineligible to compete in the NCAA.
"They reel in some kids with stars in their eyes at age 16, they play one exhibition game, and their options are done."
Gordon himself did not fly under the radar of local QMJHL teams. He was drafted by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
"I knew I was going to go play for Notre Dame that year. I took off and never looked back. I wanted to play college hockey in the States pretty much the whole time because I knew I wasn't going to be ready to turn pro at age 19, like a lot of guys who play in that league tend to do."
'Notre Dame,' in this case is not the football-mad college in Indiana, but rather a prestigious high school in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, officially, the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame. The school is well known for turning out high caliber hockey talent, including, recently, several players from the Maritimes, including former Minnesota Wild forward Scott Pellerin (New Brunswick) and 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brad Richards (PEI). Five of the seven Nova Scotians in the NCAA are former Notre Dame Hounds: Gordon, Joudrey, Vermont's Kenny Macaulay, Cornell's Blake Gallagher, and Brown's Scott Van der Linden.
"My last year in midget, Canadian Hockey put in a rule stating that players that were still of midget age were not allowed to play juniors anywhere but in your home province. At the time, I was drafted by the Antigonish Bulldogs (of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League), so really my only options were to either play for them or to go to Notre Dame, which is considered an academic institution. So I was out there to go to school and it just so happened that I also played hockey there."
Going to Notre Dame also gave Gordon a sense of pride in his team that isn't often seen at the junior level.
"There's so much history and so much pride in graduating as a Hound. It's pretty indescribable what we do up there, because there's so little to do in Wilcox. There's nowhere to go, there's only about 300 people on campus and 200 people in town, but it was one of the best times of my life. I can't drive through a city in Canada now without saying to myself 'oh, I should give so-and-so a call,' because you get to know people from everywhere. Having that connection with other Hounds is nice, because you get to reminisce about things no one else could ever understand."
Growing Up With "The Next One"
Sidney Crosby, the latest sensation in the NHL, grew up just minutes from Gordon.
"We played on a few Team Nova Scotia select teams growing up. I've been playing against him since I was maybe 9 or 10 years old and played with him and against him on-and-off until he was 14 and I'd just turned 16."
Gordon and Crosby were two of the top players on their midget team.
"He was number 9 and I wore number 19. After the [Air Canada Cup], when they announced the MVP of the tournament, they said 'Number 19, Sidney Crosby.' We were sitting right next to each other and both slid our chairs out, looked at each other, and I slid my chair right back in. It was funny, I still bug him about that when I see him in the summer time. It was a typo, I should have won that award!"
"I don't get to talk to him much during the winter. Not much to say to him during the season anyway. What exactly could I say to a guy who's in the middle of leading the NHL in points as a 19-year-old? But in the summer when we're both home, we hang out, maybe play a round of golf, and take ice time together."
So what did Gordon teach Crosby?
"Yeah, I wish," Gordon says with a laugh.
College Life
The WCHA was an instant draw to a player with the explosive capabilities of Andrew Gordon.
"The WCHA is a very pro-like league. You're flying to a lot of the away games; you're playing against draft picks every night. Out east, like in the ECAC, you might see maybe one draft pick a night, whereas you play a team like North Dakota and they've got like four first-rounders in their starting lineup. It's a different caliber out here and that was a real draw for me. From the get-go, I decided that I either wanted to play in Hockey East or the WCHA, since at the end of the year it's always those two leagues fighting for the national championship every year."
Gordon began making a list of schools that he could see himself playing at, but one school in particular rose to the top of the list in short order.
"Fred [Harbinson] and I first got in contact after the end of my grade 11 year at Notre Dame. That October I first got to visit St. Cloud, and I was blown away by the arena here. I saw a series against Wisconsin that the Huskies swept, and the fans were going crazy, the guys on the team were great, and the city itself just seemed like it was thriving on hockey. It struck me as a great place to play. It was a good fit. Since I'm a small town guy I was looking for a small city where I wouldn't get swallowed up. St. Cloud's big enough where you can hide, but small enough where you don't get lost in it all."
Since his arrival at St. Cloud State, Gordon has been a key contributor. As a freshman, he played in all but two games, tallying 9 goals and 8 assists, but the 2005-06 season was a true breakout year. In just his second year with the Huskies, Gordon became an important contributor to a rising SCSU squad, scoring 20 goals and 20 assists to lead the team in scoring.
Returning for his junior season this year, the pressure was on to maintain his scoring ways to help the team overcome the graduation of several important scorers, and he has not disappointed. Now, just over halfway through the regular season, Gordon is still lighting up the score sheet at new levels. After 22 games, he has scored 14 goals and added 14 assists, tied for the team lead in scoring with freshman Andreas Nodl, and only 15 points away from joining the prestigious 100-point club.
Familiar Faces
At St. Cloud State, Gordon has been reunited with two players who he first met on the ice as the opposition: sophomore Michael Olson and freshman Craig Gaudet.
In 2002, Gordon, while playing with Crosby and the Dartmouth Subways, took on Olson, Gaudet, and the Tisdale (Saskatchewan) Trojans in the Air Canada Cup championship game for the Midget national championship.
"I used to always make fun of [Olson] for stealing that ring right off my finger on national television. But it's good to be able to talk about old times with those guys too. Out of all the guys who play midget hockey in Canada, so few of them end up playing college hockey, especially in Minnesota, and we end up playing together."
Draft Day
In 2004, just prior to his first year at St. Cloud State, Gordon was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the NHL Entry Draft.
"Whenever I've had a big day that would have an effect on my career, my dad and I have always just gone golfing. We went golfing the day of the QMJHL draft. We went golfing the day of the Maritime Junior A draft. So we had a tee-time lined up for 9am of the second day of the NHL draft when my advisor calls me up and tells me that Washington's already picked me up. It was probably the worst game of golf I've ever played in my life but I just didn't care one bit. It was so surreal being recognized by the NHL as one of the best players in the world in my age group."
Since that day, Gordon's outlook on the game has been altered somewhat.
"It brought a new element to my life. I always thought about how sweet it would be to play in the NHL, but I ever really thought it could happen until then. Since that day, things have been different. I've had the attitude that if I work hard enough and if the stars align correctly, maybe someday I can be an NHL player."
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