Alex Pernitsky decided to play his junior hockey in the Alberta Junior Hockey League instead of staying at home in Saskatchewan.
Looks like it paid off.
Last week it was announced that Pernitsky will attend Colorado College beginning in the 2016-17 season.
“I’ve been talking to them since a little bit before Christmas,” Pernitsky said. “They’re really good academically, and I really like what the coaches had to say and offer.”
The Unity native is working on farms with his cousins in Wilkie and Cut Knife this summer.
Pernitsky says there were two main reasons he decided to join the Lloydminster Bobcats for the 2014-15 season instead of staying with the Battlefords North Stars.
“I heard there were more scouts watching,” he admitted, after a long pause. “I know that we had a chance of hosting the RBC Cup, and that was a huge factor.”
The Bobcats were named the host team for the 2016 RBC Cup last May, granting them an automatic entry into junior ‘A’s top tournament regardless of how they perform in the playoffs next year.
Pernitsky spent the 2013-14 season with the Battlefords AAA Stars, recording seven goals and 18 assists during the regular season before exploding for three goals and nine assists in 10 playoff games as the Stars reached the SMAAAHL final.
In his first year of junior hockey, Pernitsky recorded five goals and seven assists in 52 games.
“It was really good,” Pernitsky said of his first year of junior hockey. “Everybody, the coaches and the players, helped me develop. I started off a little slow but got a lot better as the year went on.”
The NCAA route isn’t always a top priority for players, but Pernitsky says it was always the way he planned on going.
“There wasn’t really an opportunity for me to play major junior because I was kind of unlucky when I was younger with my knee,” he said. “In all honesty, NCAA was the route I wanted to take ever since I heard about it because I really want an education.”
Pernitsky will be taking a business course at Colorado College, but says he hasn’t decided what it is he wants to do as a career yet.
Often a player going to an NCAA school won’t know any of their teammates until they begin the year. That’s not the case for Pernitsky, as his Bobcats teammate Cole Josefchak also committed to Colorado College for 2016-17.
“He’s a great guy and a really good player,” he said. “It’s a lot better like that too, because we both get to go down there together and we’ll be more comfortable with each other right away.”
Neither player has visited the college yet, but they’re heading down there next week to check it out.
He says he’s counting down the days until next season as the Bobcats begin their quest for a national championship.
“Oh, I’m really excited for next season,” he said. “It’s going to be a great year, I’m sure we’re going to have a fantastic team and I’ve got to battle for a top defence spot. We have a lot of returning players and with the trades that were made we’re going to have a lot of good players coming in. One of the things that’s going to put us over the top is our coaches developing us to become a winning team.”
Despite Colorado College being nearly 2,000 kilometres away from Unity, Pernitsky says the distance doesn’t bother him.
“I’m not a person who gets very homesick, so I’m definitely looking forward to it,” he said.
Over 30 players have gone from Colorado College to the NHL, with one of the most notable ones being Melfort’s Jaden Schwartz.
