Athlete of the Week

Nick Deschenes Hockey forward Height: 6'3" Hometown: Morinville, Albert, Canada Major: Computer science Favorite hockey player: Mike Modano Favorite professional hockey team: "I don't have one. I like to watch good players. I don't watch certain teams and root for them." Best Yale sports moment: "Our win against New Hampshire. It gave us confidence that we could compete nationally."

Mild-mannered freshman forward Nick Deschenes, MC '03, couldn't believe where he found himself on Sat., Oct. 30. Stepping onto the ice at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., for the Bulldogs' first game of the season against sixth-ranked Michigan, Deschenes recalled, "I was thinking, `Should I score against a team like that?'"

It didn't take him long to answer that question. At 1:37 into the first period, Deschenes opened the scoring on a power play—his first career goal. Since that day, Deschenes has been a major contributor to the Bulldogs' offensive effort, with two assists and another power play goal against Dartmouth on Sat., Nov. 13.

Despite his current passion for the game, Deschenes wasn't always sure he wanted to play hockey. As a five-year-old growing up in the small town of Morinville in Alberta, Canada, he watched all of his older friends go off to the local rink to play hockey and—not wanting to be left behind—joined a local team. By the time he was a teenager, however, he was burned out. "I decided at the prime age of 16, when most kids love hockey, to quit hockey," he said.

About a year later, though, Deschenes realized he couldn't abandon the sport. After he graduated from high school, he played in the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) for three years to hone his skills. "It was a matter of me trying to better myself in order to make it to this level," he said. "It took me those three years to get where I'm at now."

Last year, Deschenes decided it was time to start looking at colleges, and when he visited Yale this past January, he knew he had found the perfect match. "Yale's athletic facilities and the [men's hockey] coaching staff were really big plusses," he said. "Also, being in between New York and Boston, Yale is right in the middle of everything. I can almost look at this as a four-year vacation."

Deschenes was quick to note that he and the rest of the freshmen will make sure captain Jeff Hamilton, SM '00, and Jeff Brow, SM '00, won't have to carry offense. "I think this year you're going to see a lot more offense from a lot of different sources," Deschenes said.

At age 20, Deschenes is the oldest member of the freshman squad. Due to the insight he gained from his experience in the AJHL, he sees himself as the squad's elder statesman. "Being older, I've developed more on the mental side of the game," he said. "I try to make sure none of the freshmen are too high or too low. I tell them they've got to work that extra bit to get in the lineup, because I've been through it all before in junior hockey."

Is this freshman phenom who once turned his back on the world of hockey thinking of playing professionally after college? "Definitely," Deschenes said. Photo by John Yi.

Back to Sports...