There ' s no better recruiting tool in Junior hockey than a roster full of lifelong friends.
Twenty-year-old Jordan Eddy, a veteran of more than two seasons with the Alberta Junior Hockey League ' s (AJHL) Calgary Canucks, spurned an opportunity for a final season of Junior A for a chance to join a band of brothers with the Okotoks Jr. B Bisons.
“ I played (in Calgary) last year and a little bit the year before and I just wasn ' t enjoying it this year so I decided to come back and play with the buddies,” Eddy said following his Bisons ' debut on Friday in High River. “ I ' ve got a whole bunch of really good buddies on this team and it felt like the right decision at the time.”
Eddy grew up in north Calgary and has long known Bison mainstays Colin MacMurdo, Eddie Tracy, Ty Fehr, Phil Dillon Kevan Mikkelsen, Chase Fallis and fellow newcomer Brodie Eisbrenner.
Fallis, the Bisons captain, knows what his team will be getting from their newest addition.
“ I played hockey with (Eddy) back in Midget,” Fallis said. “ I know him, he ' s a power forward coming back from Junior A so he ' s got some confidence.”
Eddy ' s comfort level with his new club was evident in his Bisons debut in which he scored the team ' s first goal of the 2012-13 season in a 3-2 loss to High River. He followed the sparkling debut with a two goal, three point performance against the Banff Bears on Sunday.
“ They ' re great guys in there,” Eddy said of the Bisons ' dressing room. “ They made it easy for me.”
The Junior B game is not completely unfamiliar to the big-bodied forward.
Prior to joining the Canucks on a full-time basis last season, where he potted six goals and 12 points in 41 games, Eddy plied his trade with the Calgary Northstar Junior B Blazers and helped the team to a Calgary Junior Hockey League title in 2010-11.
His best moment on the ice came last season with the Canucks when they shocked the Camrose Kodiaks in their opening round playoff series, handing the central Alberta team their only first round playoff exit in franchise history.
“ That was the highlight of probably my hockey career,” Eddy said. “ Beating those guys was a drug-high feeling.”
The six-foot-two, 200-pound forward brings an element of physicality and finesse to the two-time defending Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) champions.
“ I bring some size, some help moving the puck around,” Eddy said. “ And I try to be a leader in the dressing room.”
If his first weekend with the Bisons is any indication, he could be leading the team on the scoresheet, too.
