By: Michael Lenko, SFU student
After a BCIHL (British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League) career that began with the Selkirk Saints in Castlegar, goaltender Patrick Zubick is transferring to SFU to join the Clan on the ice and study biology on the mountain. The Peak sat down with Zubick to talk about the transfer to SFU, his time in the BCIHL and his junior championship experience.
The Peak: Though it will be your first year with the Clan, this isn’t your first year in the league as you’ve just transferred from Selkirk College. What was your experience like there on and off the ice?
Patrick: Selkirk College was a great place to start my post-secondary journey and collegiate hockey career. It gave me a great starting place and foundation, which I can now look back on with fond memories. It really helped prepare me for the jump to university life.
The Peak: On a personal level, your time at Selkirk was very successful with respect to on-ice performance, including having been selected as a 2 team BCIHL all-star. How do you think those experiences will help you with your transfer into a new environment with SFU Hockey?
Patrick: I think that I was put into a position to succeed a lot of the time […] with my coach and the team we had there. We had a great group of guys both of my years there, which enabled me to learn a lot about the game. I think coming into my third year in the league, I know how the league works and how the game flows at this level. I’m especially aware of the smaller, condensed schedule we play and how it magnifies the importance of each game. I think it’ll help set me up for success here as well.
The Peak: In your last season of junior hockey, you won an SIJHL (Superior International Junior Hockey League) championship with the Dryden Ice Dogs. How do you think that experience can help the Clan win a BCIHL championship?
Patrick: I think anytime you get a player — or players — that have championship experience, they kind of know the sacrifices that are necessary to get back there, and they know how hard it is to get there in the first place. I think when you get a group of guys like that together, that are able to lead by example and draw on those past experiences and what they had to do when things weren’t going well, that’s a championship recipe. To be able to translate those things to a new team–which I hope I’m able to help do here–will help push the team toward its goal of winning a championship.
The Peak: In terms of academics, how are you finding the transition from a small two year college to a large public research institution that is nationally recognized such as SFU is?
Patrick: It’s definitely an adjustment period. I think I’m just starting to figure it out now. Obviously at Selkirk College I could walk across the campus in five minutes flat; even just geographically, Simon Fraser is a way bigger school. There’s so many more people. The class work, were just in our first week so it’s just introductory stuff so far, but it’s definitely eye opening to see what it’s like at a big school. It’s exciting too because you have so many more resources available to you and the faculty is top notch – and they’ve been doing research across the world. It’s a really exciting time and an exciting place to be. I’m happy to be here.
