“It’s just the speed and intensity of it,” Fabijancic said of his passion for hockey.
The 14-year-old Corner Brook native helped the Nova major bantam squad to the gold-medal at the Nova Scotia major bantam provincial championship tournament this past weekend at the Keith Miller Arena in East Hants.
Based out of Antigonish, the Nova shaded Dartmouth 2-1 in double overtime in the final to earn the right to represent Nova Scotia at the 2015 Irving Challenge Atlantic Major Bantam Hockey Championship that will be hosted by the Darthmouth squad next month.
“It was the best game of hockey I ever played in,” Fabijancic, a five-foot-eight, 140-pound rushing defenceman said of winning the championship.
He’s been honing his skills in Nova Scotia for the past three years, his first season spent with the Antigonish Bulldogs AAA peewee team and the past two years cruising the blueline for the Nova in the major bantam circuit.
He began his minor hockey career in Corner Brook, but he wasn’t exactly impressed with the way the program was being ran at the time. He also wanted to play at a higher level because he figured the only way to improve is to play more hockey against bigger and faster players who have played a lot more hockey than what players get in Newfoundland.
“The hockey is not the best down there. The whole system was kind of deteriorating,” he said of wanting to pursue other options. “Some players would be getting ice-time but they didn’t deserve it, stuff like that.”
The son of Tony — who lives in Corner Brook — and Tea — who he lives with in Antigonish — likes how his game has developed since he’s been playing against some really good teams with bigger, faster and usually more skilled players than what he’s ever experienced before.
He’s proud of the effort the team put in with a championship win over the top-seed Darthmouth boys. He’s now looking forward to playing for a championship at the Atlantic event and plans on working hard at his game with hopes of someday playing pro or going overseas to ply his trade.
His coach, Kyle MacDonald of nearby Inverness, was only too happy to have the mobile defender with a heavy shot join the ranks. His coach has seen improvement in him this year and felt he really stepped up for the team in the provincial tournament.
“He’s a strong skater so if he does make a mistake he can often get back into position,” MacDonald said.
Coach MacDonald believes he has the tools to take his game to another level with his skating ability and great shot.
“As long as he wants to put in the work I think he’ll become a hockey player,” he said.
