The hockey season may have just wrapped up for the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey, but a pair of graduating Ravens are already taking the first strides of their pro career.
Former captain Joey West and forward Mitch Zion both signed their first standard player contracts with the Brampton Beast of the ECHL March 25 and joined the team for the remainder of the season.
The duo made their professional debuts the same day they signed their contracts, and about a week after their Ravens’ career wrapped up after a quadruple overtime loss to Saskatchewan at the University Cup in Halifax.
“I think it definitely helped,” Zion said of getting back on the ice right away. “It was definitely a tough way to go out. I think playing that game we all thought that we’d be the ones coming out on top and then it takes a quick bounce and it ends up going the other way. But definitely being able to sign with a pro team more or less right away definitely helped.”
“I don’t know if it helped make it any easier but as far as being game ready, being able to have such a successful season with Carleton and go as far as we did kind of helped me being able to step in and play right away,” he said.
West and Zion joined a Brampton squad that already featured former Raven Tim Billingsley.
“It’s an easier transition when you know somebody,” West said. “You can get to know the other guys a bit faster as well and get to know their systems and their style of play because you have more familiarity and ease talking to somebody that is already in the program.”
“Tim was pretty instrumental in getting us there. He kind of was the link between us and the front office staff and the general manager and the coaching staff,” Zion said.
“But then once we got there Tim [Billingsley] was unbelievable—he kind of took us under his wing,” he said.
“It’s never easy joining and new team but having a guy on that team who we knew who is kind of a veteran presence and a solid defenceman definitely made it a lot easier,” he said.
The duo had to adjust quickly from the flow of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) hockey to that of the ECHL, although both agreed they felt comfortable after playing three games in three nights during their first weekend with the team.
“The East Coast League [ECHL] runs a little differently than CIS, there’s three lines as opposed to four so I think it almost took us a while game to get used to going out every third shift,” Zion said.
“There’s a lot more ice but it almost suits us better, being guys who are skaters so I think the comfort zone is getting there,” he said. “It was three games in three days so it was a really quick turn around but I think we’re definitely getting more comfortable out there and now looking to really help out as much as we can and maybe play the spoiler and win some games down the stretch for Brampton.”
“Its a bit of an adjustment period with new systems and different player tendencies, but I think overall its gone pretty well so far,” West agreed.
In their second game with the Beast, both West and Zion assisted on a goal scored by Mike Hammond to earn their first professional league points.
“The [defence] just made a really nice outlet pass in the middle, and I picked it up on my backhand and looked and found Westy [Joey West] on the right hand side,” Zion said.
“Myself and the goal scorer—Mike Hammond—went in on a two-on-two, we crisscrossed and he got the puck and did a wraparound and scored,” West said.
The Beast currently have six games remaining in their regular season schedule but have already been eliminated from postseason contention. They will play their season finale on April 9.
