Strueby to join Cougars
Apr. 17, 2010 - Regina Leader-Post
By Ian Hamilton
Matt Strueby has changed teams without changing cities.
Strueby, a centre who spent the past three seasons with the WHL's Regina Pats, has committed to the University of Regina Cougars men's hockey team. The 20-year-old Regina product, who exhausted his junior eligibility in the 2009-10 season, is to begin his CIS career with the Cougars in the fall.
"They gave me a really good offer (in terms of a scholarship)," Strueby said Friday. "I like playing hockey in the city of Regina. Now I get to stay at home and play hockey and my family can keep watching me.
"My uncle (Darren Wilcox) also went to the U of R. That helped make the decision easier for me, too."
Wilcox played goal for the Cougars and was part of the U of R team that won the Great Plains Athletic Conference championship in 1982.
Strueby has another family connection to the U of R: his cousin Nathan played for the Cougars in the late '90s.
In Matt Strueby, the Cougars get a player who scored 37 goals during the 2009-10 WHL season and 70 goals over his Pats career.
"Obviously, we want to score more and Matt's got that capability," said Cougars head coach Blaine Sautner, whose squad scored 72 goals -- better only than the 67 scored by the UBC Thunderbirds -- during the 28-game 2009-10 Canada West regular season.
"He was a 37-goal scorer with the Pats last season and had 25 the year before. He's got the knack of putting the puck in the net, which can't really be taught ...
"Are we putting any expectations on Matt? No," added Sautner. "We're not going to expect him to come in and be a 20-goal scorer right off the bat. But we do expect that he'll work hard every day and every game."
Strueby said he spoke to other CIS schools -- he mentioned Acadia, Waterloo and York -- but felt Regina was a better fit for him.
"I've never left home to play hockey," said Strueby, who played with the midget AAA Regina Pat Canadians before joining the Pats. "I didn't think this would be the time to do it, either."
Mind you, he did think about it. The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder said he was contacted by a couple of East Coast Hockey League teams, but nothing panned out.
"I wouldn't have minded going to experience it and see where my game was as a player," Strueby said. "It was definitely an option.
"But with the free schooling I'm going to get (through the WHL scholarship program, which pays for one year of university tuition for every one year played in the WHL), it would have been too hard to waste that to go to the East Coast league. It was a pretty easy decision when I got the (scholarship) contract.
"It's fine. This hockey is going to be awesome to play."
That said, Strueby knows there's going to be an adjustment period to the university game. He's just hopeful it doesn't take too long.
"I know it's a faster pace," Strueby said. "All of these guys have played in the WHL before and they'll be that much older and that much stronger. Hopefully I can adapt to the pace, adapt to the game, and hopefully lead this team to a championship."