Welcome back to another edition of Canadians in the NCAA. In case you missed it last week, check out our first edition here.
Last week, we focused on the 2023 season and the contributions made by our Canucks. Turning the page to 2024, several Canadians are off to fast starts.
While we are still awaiting data on several teams (the Ivy League and several other teams don’t start until this coming weekend), we do have some great contributions already.
Consider this column to officially be on record watch this season! As mentioned last time, Dyson Williams (Oshawa, Ontario) has a chance to break the all-time Duke goals record. Williams is off to a nice start, with eight goals in his first two games. However, he is far from the only one chasing records.
Up the road at Virginia, Payton Cormier (Payton’s hometown is Oakville, but I feel he would want me to write Mimico, Ontario here) scored five goals in their dominant victory over Michigan. That outing brought his total to 164 for his career. The record at Virginia?
165 goals.
We aren’t in the jinx business, so good luck to PC as he chases history with the Hoos. Cormier has easily the highest goals per game of anyone near the top of the UVA record books and has already accounted for two of the top ten goal scoring seasons in school history.
High Point’s Brayden Mayea (Windsor, Ontario) started the year fast with four goals against Mercer, and added one more against Duke. Regular listeners to The Back of the Bird will know that Mayea has a chance to break Dan Lomas’ record at High Point. With 127 goals and counting, Mayea needs 22 more to tie Lomas and his 159 tallies.
Bellarmine’s Kyle Playstead (Calgary, Alberta) already hit his record! According to the Bellarmine social media account, Playstead became the all-time leading scorer with his 84th career goal during their first game of the season.
Congrats to Kyle on a heck of an accomplishment!
Over at St. Joseph’s, both Carter Page (Peterborough, Ontario) and Levi Anderson (Calgary, Alberta) enter the season with more than 100 goals scored in their careers. It isn’t immediately clear how many goals it will take to break the record for St. Joseph’s but both players should be within striking distance.
Speaking of the Hawks, they are a team to watch this season for Canadian fans. In addition to Page and Anderson, Graduate Student Toron Eccleston (Calgary, Alberta) made the jump from Division II Lenoir-Rhyne where he helped lead the Bears to a 2023 National Championship. Eccleston led St. Joseph’s with five goals in their season opening loss. Speaking of the Hawks, they are a team to watch this season for Canadian fans. In addition to Page and Anderson, Graduate Student Toron Eccleston (Calgary, Alberta) made the jump from Division II Lenoir-Rhyne where he helped lead the Bears to a 2023 National Championship. Eccleston led St. Joseph’s with five goals in their season opening loss.
Defenceman Levi Verch (Victoria, British Columbia), and attackman Mark Watters (Orillia, Ontario) both competed for the Hawks as well.
Syracuse will be another team to watch for northern fans as well. At times, Syracuse will have four Canadians in their offensive sets. This isn’t including superstar Joey Spallina (who played box last summer in Orangeville) and indigenous athlete Trey Deere (who also starred in Orangeville).
Owen Hiltz (Peterborough, Ontario) leads the Canadian crew for the Orange with seven goals and eight assists through three games. Jake Stevens (Puslinch, Ontario) is on his way to a wacky statistical season. In three games, he has five goals, one assist, nine loosies, and a caused turnover. Stevens takes wings on the face off for the Orange and is third on the entire team in loose balls.
Finn Thompson (Toronto, Ontario) has five points and has had some bad shooting luck. Keep an eye on him. Likewise Sam English (Burlington, Ontario) is off to a nice start with three goals. Syracuse has been in cruise control for most of their early season, so expect these Canadians to have more impact going forward.
For those keeping track at home, both St. Joseph’s and Syracuse are coached by Canadians you may have heard of. Gary Gait and Taylor Wray have both recruited well up north.
We will have a full update of every Canadian on the men’s side next week as we await data from the rest of the country.
For now, let’s look at the women’s side.
By my data, 102 Canadian women are set to compete for Division I programs this year. That crew represents five Canadian provinces. A total of 77 women from Ontario are on rosters, followed by 17 from British Columbia, and six from Alberta. Kaitlynn Anderson (Winnipeg) gives Manitoba representation for the UMass Lowell River Hawks, while Hannah Kent (Ostrea Lake) represents the province of Nova Scotia for the Niagara Purple Eagles.
I don’t know for sure, but Kent may be the first Nova Scotian to compete at the Division I level (men’s or women’s). If I am wrong, please let me know in the comments. There is a great article on her from the CBC last year, which you can find here.
Of those 102 players, 24 list the Hill Academy as their high school. This is easily the most in the country, followed by Everest Academy (seven). As should be expected, 17 of those players don the number 45, again easily the highest concentration on one number.
Of the Canadian women, Lindenwood’s Alissa Digiacinto (Brooklin, Ontario) is off to the fastest start with five goals and one assist. Digiacinto is a freshmen, so that performance came in her first career game. The future is bright in St. Louis.
Meanwhile Denver’s Lauren Black (New Westminster, British Columbia) had three goals and an assist to help the powerhouse Denver Pioneers.
Also having big days were Paige Stachura (Orillia, Ontario) who scored four goals to open the season for Canisius, and Jillian Goldie (Owen Sound, Ontario) who was the final Canuck to contribute a hat-trick.
Lastly, in the process of accumulating the data for this project, we uncovered a player who represents a classic Canadian athlete. Boston University freshman Alex Law (Whitby, Ontario) has 13 points this year… for the BU women’s hockey team. Listed on both rosters, she will look to compete on the field this spring.
Similar to the men, expect a full rundown of the women’s Canadian statistics next week once everyone has played at least one game.
Until next time…
JD…love the Canuck watch!
Just want to point out my granddaughter Teagan Ng was freshman of the year in the PAC 12 last season as a starter in her first year with ASU.
I forgot to mention Teagan Ng is from Richmond, BC.
It’d be interesting to list also how many Canadian men and women have won a NCAA title as well. Heritage proud!
Morgan White
Freshman at Vanderbilt
From Milton, Ontario