By Matt Stefano
He was third in team defencemen scoring this season, he’s an assistant captain, and this week he was noticed for some hard work off the ice!
After hearing his name get called twice at the Soo Thunderbirds awards banquet in March for the T-Birds hardest working player of the year along with winning the team scholastic player of the year award for a second straight season, this week, T-Birds defenceman Brandon Grandinetti was named this year’s NOJHL’s RBC scholastic player of the year.
“It feels great to know that all my hard work in the classroom is recognized,” said Grandinetti. “It is difficult to sometimes balance hockey and school, so it’s a good incentive to keep striving to reach my goals.”
The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native, who is in his second year taking Biology at Algoma University, received a $1000.00 scholarship courtesy of RBC, which helps defer the cost of his post secondary education and he is now nominated for the Hockey Canada/CJHL RBC scholastic player of the year award, which will be announced during May at the RBC Cup in Lloydminster, Alberta.
“I chose to study Biology because some aspects of it focus on the body, it’s functions, and movements, which I enjoy learning about, in hopes of becoming a chiropractor or physiotherapist,” concluded Grandinetti.
“Brandon is in every sense of the definition a student-athlete who represents the Soo Thunderbird program both on and off the ice,” said T-Birds general manager Jamie Henderson. “Brandon is going to move on to do great things in his life and we couldn’t be more proud of his accomplishments in the classroom and on the ice in helping us reach a second consecutive Dudley Hewitt Cup.”
Grandinetti becomes the fifth T-Bird to win the NOJHL’s RBC scholastic player of the year award, joining Justin Pino (2000), Adam Kauppi (2006), Bronson Kovacs (2010) and Geoff Gieni (2011).
(Photo credit to James Egan’s Sports Photography)
