Bryce Walcarius '21 Recruiting Profile

I grew up on a farm in Aylmer, Ontario, with my three brothers. Brayden (21), Dayne (17), and Dawson (15). Living on a farm with them my whole life has given me a spirit of competitiveness to be better than everyone around me. The 4 of us are always battling against each other in all kinds of sports or games, yet remain a close knit family afterwards, much like hockey teams do on the ice.  Also the farm life, has taught me responsibility, to get my farm work done quickly and efficiently so the farm doesn’t fall behind.

            I began to play hockey when I was 3, started to play goalie when I was 5, and began to play goalie full time when I was 6. Something that I enjoyed about playing goalie was the independence of it. Just having myself being able to stop the puck, and the reliance of my team for me to do so. I played in Aylmer, for the Aylmer Minor Hockey Association (AMHA) until the end of Novice (Mite), and a highlight of playing there was winning tournament MVP in the Buffalo Pepsi Invitational, and winning that tournament.  Also winning team MVP for that season.  From there, I went to play with the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs AAA hockey team in Atom (Squirt). I have played there ever since, up to and including Major Midget.  Some highlights on the Chiefs are winning the Alliance regular season four years straight (Atom/Squirt-Peewee), winning the Alliance play downs in Major Atom/Squirt and making an appearance at OHF’s, and winning two tournaments, and making the final in another, in Major Peewee, but falling just a little short in the Alliance playdown final, losing in game 8, double overtime, to a tough London Jr. Knights squad.   Winning the Alliance Regular season and Playoff Championships, along with winning the CCM Invitational Tournament in Chicago all in Major Midget will be memories I carry with me forever.  I have also played for various spring hockey teams, such as Pro Tips, Regional Express, Xcellereate, and Pro Hockey, and a highlight from spring hockey was being named to the All-Star team in New York at the Pro Hockey Big Apple tournament.

            There are quite a few things that I have learned throughout my hockey career so far. One is that your grades effect what schools and teams think of you and you always need to try one hundred percent in school. This is huge to me because hearing that made me try much harder in school to maintain good grades. Another thing that I have learned is that individuals do not win you the game, teams do. This has been the most important thing that I have learned because a team needs to have chemistry and a positive attitude with each other to win because it is not just one person on the ice at a time, it is six.

            I have quite a few academic goals set for myself. One of my goals is to have and maintain a 4.0 grade point average. This is a goal of mine because then it opens up the most options for possible school choices. Another goal of mine is to stay active in extra curricular activities. This is because it will both make me active inside of school, and also help me to continue to find friends with similar interests such as mine. A college goal of mine is to hopefully get into a school where I can study for what I hopefully can fall back on after my hockey career. I have been looking into studying in either education to hopefully be a teacher or law to hopefully be a lawyer or police officer.  I want to play hockey at the highest level college I am capable of as well.