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Hockey: Canadian college star signs with Rush
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FarkRAPID CITY — Brady Olsen, a forward for the Queen’s University Golden Gaels, is the first player to be officially signed by the Rapid City Rush for its inaugural season in the Central Hockey League.
The team announced on Wednesday that Olsen signed a one-year contract with the Rush, set to begin play in October of 2008.
“This is a really great opportunity and it feels good,” said Olsen in a news release. “With graduating this season, I had a lot of uncertainty as to what I would do next year. I knew if I didn’t chase this opportunity I wouldn’t be happy in a year from now.”
Olsen played four years as a Gael, appearing in 102 games with 59 goals, 38 assists and 97 points. In 2007, he led the team in scoring and played the most minutes of any forward.
To culminate Olsen’s final season as a member of the Golden Gaels, he was named the Ontario University Athletics East Most Sportsmanlike Player and also been named to the OUA East Second All-Star Team.
Olsen led the Gaels in scoring this year, with career highs of 19 goals and 13 assists while only picking up 26 penalty minutes in 28 games.
“With the numbers that Brady has produced over his four-year college career his skill level is obvious,” said Rush Head Coach Joe Ferras in the release. “It is his character and his willingness to compete every time he steps on the ice that will allow Brady to be very successful at the pro level.”
Olsen earned national attention when he scored a highlight reel goal in a January game against rival Royal Military College. The goal was coined “the greatest moment in amateur or professional sports history” by CFRC’s color commentator Matthew Bisson.
The highlight reel goal was later aired on The Sports Network’s ‘That’s Hockey’ and viewed on YouTube more than 2,500 times.
Olsen played his junior hockey with the Kingston Voyageurs in 2002, scoring 49 goals for a total of 66 points before moving on to Queen’s University.
“We are looking forward to Brady being an integral part of the Rapid City Rush,” said Ferras.
“He exemplifies the type of player that the fans of Rapid City will be proud of both on and off the ice.”
“He came highly touted from the Canadian university system There were a lot of teams seeking him,” said Rush general manager Jason Rent. “He looked around and decided this was the place to come, so Coach Ferras did a good job of selling Rapid City and our program.”
Rent said it’s difficult to predict how many players on the roster will be just out of college or will come from other minor leagues, or when the next players will be signed.
“We could go a month now without signing a guy, or we could sign three guys next week,” Rent said. “There are leagues still playing, and there are some guys waiting to see if they’re going to get a tryout somewhere, so it’s hard to predict.”
The CHL expansion draft is scheduled for June. The team’s inaugural training camp is scheduled to begin the first week of October. The season starts the third week in October.
The Rush will open the season on the road while its home ice, a new addition at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, is completed in early December.
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