After skating the past two seasons with the Jets in the North American 3 Hockey League, Bazin was hoping to go on to play college hockey starting this fall. While the offers didn’t exactly pour in for the 19-year-old Troy native, he will be going to Olivet College to play his other passion – lacrosse.
“I don't want to accept that my hockey career is done, but it's something I have to do,” Bazin said. “I will definitely be playing beer leagues with my friends whenever I can, though. It's not something I 100 percent wanted to give up, but I just received a great opportunity from Olivet to go and play lax there.”
Bazin said the chance to play for Olivet, located about 30 miles south of Lansing and 125 miles west of Detroit, came about rather innocently.
“I always go help out my high school (Troy Athens) at practice, sometimes practicing with them and watching their games,” explained Bazin. “I talked with the head coach, Nick Stensen and the school AD, Bob Dowd, about my options for next year and Mr. Dowd introduced me to Olivet head lacrosse coach Mike O'Neill and everything else went from there.”
Bazin has coached the Troy middle school teams the past two years and said he “loves giving back to the kids and would do anything to help teach them the games I love.”
Bazin started playing lacrosse when he was a freshman at Athens in 2006, so to be getting an opportunity to play in college after getting a late start in the game is a testament to Bazin’s dedication and compete level.
The upcoming season will be Olivet’s first with a lacrosse program – an ideal situation in Bazin’s eyes.
“I am a very competitive person and hate losing in anything, like something as simple as rock paper scissors, so this is a great opportunity for me to go out and prove myself,” said Bazin. “I expect us as a program to start off strong and hopefully come out and win our division and make a run in the NCAA tournament. It will be a great experience for me and I am one to always work hard no matter what, while never backing down from anything. It should be a great all-around time at Olivet and I am looking forward to it.”
Away from the lacrosse field, Bazin said he plans to major in journalism at Olivet with an eye towards being a sports reporter down the line.
“Both hockey and lax share similar aspects and it was very easy for me to transfer from sport to sport,” Bazin said. “You definitely have to be physically and mentally tough in both sports. I chose lax over hockey just based off the opportunity I received to go play at an NCAA Division III school and compete with the best of the best. I felt playing lax at Olivet was a better fit than any of the hockey offers I received, as well as the great education I'll receive from the school.”
In 2010-11, Bazin tallied three goals and 10 points in 36 games and then this past year, he rang up seven goals and 20 points in 32 games.
“The past two years on the Jets have honestly been the best two years of hockey in my life,” beamed Bazin. “It was a great atmosphere both years and just a great group of guys to be on a team with. I learned a great amount from (Metro head coach Jason) Cirone and never will forget any of it. The thing I'll remember the most is all the guys from this past year, it was the closest team I've ever been on. Everyone from the team, I truly consider a brother and would do anything for those guys.
“The bond we all had can't even be described with words, but I love all the guys and wish everyone the best in their future. It was too bad we couldn't go out winning the league title.”
No comments:
Post a Comment