Two former members of the Ravens men’s hockey team are flying westward as they embark on professional careers after Carleton.
Ravens faithful will have to have a new favourite ECHL team, as forward Damian Cross and defenceman Tim Billingsley joined the league’s Idaho Steelheads.
The Steelheads are a minor league affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars.
Cross spent two years with the Ravens after transferring from the NCAA’s Providence College in 2013. The 26-year-old Nepean native wore the captain’s ‘C’ on his jersey last season and finished third in team scoring in both years.
Billingsley, a 6’2” rearguard, spent parts of four years with the Ravens, putting up 54 points. He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes 189th overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
“I can thank my teammates. Together we created an environment where we pushed each other everyday while still having fun,” Cross said, adding that Idaho management has put the two Carleton products in housing together.
“The coaching staff too—they pushed and supported me all the way. Without them this never would have happened.”
Carleton’s summer recruiting has reached double digits in player acquisitions due to the large number of departures from last year’s team. Three of last year’s top scorers and the team’s top defensive pairing are among those who have left campus as well.
The 2014 edition of the Ravens ended up being knocked out in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East semi-finals.
Ravens’ head coach Marty Johnston said losing two of his team’s key players wouldn’t be easy.
“I think it’s really hard. You develop a relationship with them that extends beyond the ice. We were very fortunate to have Damian as captain—he did a great job,” Johnston said.
“Tim joined us in the second half of his first year. He was already playing pro hockey and was real sturdy on our back end. We’re really happy for Tim and Damian and think they’re going to succeed in Idaho.”
The Boise-based Steelheads have been members of the ECHL since 2003. Their roster consists of former university players, like Cross and Billingsley, and some NHL draft picks.
The Steelheads finished second in the league’s Western Conference in 2014 but fell to the claws of the Utah Grizzlies in round one of the playoffs. This year, the team’s hiring of 30-year-old coach Neil Graham gave them the ECHL’s youngest leader behind the bench.
Ravens’ junior defenceman Jason Seed said the route that Cross and Billingsley took is ideal for most Canadian Interuniversity Sport players.
“For myself and the other guys on the team, we use (university) as a way to get better. I think all the guys hope to move on professionally, whether it be in North America or Europe or wherever it leads to after,” Seed said.
Last season, former Carleton players Brandon MacLean and Shane Bakker both played in the American Hockey League. The two signed with separate ECHL teams after their years as a Raven.
“I think that’s what we want to be at Carleton—a program that graduates players but also makes successful hockey players. If they do it that way they can probably play a few extra years and travel the world and still have a degree to fall back on when they get around to hanging up their skates,” Johnston said.
Johnston said he uses the successes of Cross, Billingsley, MacLean, and Bakker as a standard by which to judge his players. Among skill, physicality and toughness, and leadership, Johnston said he also gauges his interest in new players by their career ambitions in hockey.
“In our program we’re looking for players that want to play pro. If they don’t … we don’t really want them.”
