Brodie Brushes Up Colgate Scholarship:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Brodie brushes up Colgate scholarship

When Vernon Vipers’ defenceman Cameron Brodie goes on a road trip, chances are it’ll be a homecoming of sorts. The rugged 20-year-old blueliner has played for six different B.C. Hockey League teams in four years, and has probably had more billets than most dee corps put together.
Yet that apparently hasn’t diminished his appeal to the scouting community. Brodie, a White Rock product, landed an NCAA Division 1 scholarship with the Colgate Raiders on Friday.
After finding out about the offer to the Hamilton, N.Y. school, Brodie said: “I made a few phone calls, talked to my coaches and parents and took it right away. I couldn’t even think twice about it.
“There’s not too many full rides given out, and it’s just a bonus that Colgate’s such a good school in a good league (ECAC). I’ve heard a lot about the school from past teammates I’ve played with. They’ve always had a good reputation, both academically and athletically.”
Before bringing Brodie in at the BCHL trade deadline in January, Vipers’ head coach Mark Ferner had been after the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder for the better part of a year.
“We’re the sixth team he’s played on, and that’s not a reflection of him,” said Ferner. “It’s great to see someone come here that we know is a great player and a great person. It makes us look good, but credit to him and the teams he’s played on before.
“Obviously, we’ve got a couple more – Andrew Hammond, Ryan Santana, Mike Leidl – so that something we’ll be working on as well.”
With the scholarship pressure lifted off his shoulders, Brodie can now focus solely on the Vipers’ playoff drive, which he did in hard-hitting fashion in the Vipers’ 2-1 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings Saturday night at Wesbild Centre.
Brodie, Chris Crowell and Leidl gave the Snakes (40-12-1-3) a much needed physical presence, delivering a barrage of thudding hits all night.
“It’s nice to have some other guys on the team that can bring that physical presence,” said Brodie. “I’ve heard it’s hard to play against... so we make sure there’s lots of it in our game.
“We were missing Kyle Bigos (flu) tonight. He’s a big part of the lineup, but with the guys we had tonight, we buckled down and just made sure that every puck in our zone was hard out or a tape-to-tape pass.”
The Jones twins, Connor and Kellen, on a line with Sahir Gill, were dominant all night, wreaking havoc in the 24-25-3-6 Spruce Kings’ zone.
“It’s always tricky for sure,” said Spruce Kings’ all-star d-man Zach Davies, of trying to contain the twins. “It’s a little uncanny their ability to know where the other is. They just keep cycling the puck down low and turning away from you.
“Defensively we played well. We only allowed two goals to one of the better offences in the league. We just didn’t generate enough offence from our top three lines, and that kind of sunk the boat for us.”
Kellen set up Connor (18th goal) with a cross-ice pass for a beauty tip-in to open the scoring at 4:35 of the first period.
“Our line had good chemistry tonight,” said Kellen. “Even after that long trip (to Trail Friday night) our legs felt good and we were buzzing out there tonight.
“There’s really no excuses for trips like that. You’ve still got time to come home and rest. This time we played well enough to win, but it wasn’t our best.
“Good teams close out games when you’re ahead, and we did it tonight.”
Although happy with the result, Ferner noted it wasn’t the complete team performance he was looking for.
“We had a long trip home last night, and we had some guys going and some guys not going. There’s going to be nights where we don’t feel as good as we want to feel, but you have to bring something to the table.
“There’s no secret why Connor’s line got both goals. They won races, they won battles and they made things happen.”
Prince George, who got 34 saves from Alex Wright, equalized on Matt Lees’ powerplay goal midway through the second period, just as Vernon’s third consecutive penalty expired.
“Give Vernon full credit for the win, they were better than us all night,” said Prince George head coach Ed Dempsey. “Our so-called fourth line was good, but our top-line forwards mailed it in most of the night.”
Connor (19th) earned the winner as he caught Wright going the wrong way with a wrist shot from the slot.
Vipers’ netminder Andrew Hammond recorded 22 saves for his 25th win.
The Vipers hosted the Penticton Vees (33-17-0-6) Tuesday night at Wesbild. They visit the Westside Warriors (34-18-1-4) Friday at Royal LePage Place and the Vees Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
With four regular-season games remaining, the Snakes are one point clear of the Salmon Arm SilverBacks (40-15-1-2) for the Interior Conference title with two games in hand.