John Girman was born in central Canada, played hockey in western Canada last season and is now giving the east coast a try.
The Grande Prairie Storm graduated forward has committed to the Acadia Axemen – located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia – for the coming hockey season.
The 6-foot-2 native of Mississauga, Ont. played one season with the Storm finishing third on the team and 18th overall in the league in 2010-2011 with 27 goals and 30 assists in 60 regular season games.
“John had an amazing season for us last year,” said Storm coach/general manager Blaine Bablitz. “He has great work ethic and leadership skills. John worked hard every day in the gym, at the rink and within our community.”
The Axemen play in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and were the 10th ranked team in Canada at the end of the season last year.
Bablitz is confident Girman will excel at the next level.
“With his work ethic and commitment he will develop into a great university hockey player and should have an immediate impact on their program,” Bablitz said. “The Storm would like to thank John for all his hard work and how well he represented the Storm last season, and wish him the best of luck in the future.”
Girman is the sixth player from last year’s Storm team to commit to a college or university program for next season.
The list, besides Girman, includes captain Tanner Fritz (Ohio State), Dan Correale (University of New Hampshire), Jordan Forfar (York University), Derek Henderson (Simon Fraser University) and Andy Williams (SAIT).
Mitch Fillman, who played for the Storm last season, had an amateur tryout with the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League at the end last season and could be playing pro hockey with that team this fall.